AC3 file extension. How to open and convert files with AC3 file suffix

An ac3 file extension is associated with the Dolby Digital sound file format also known as AC3 (Audio Coding 3).

There is one other file type using
the AC3 file extension!

.ac3 - SPICE AC/frequence domain output file

Detailed description

Software that open ac3 file

Add comment

AC3 file extension - Dolby Digital sound

What is ac3 file? How to open ac3 files?

File type specification:

Audio and sound file type

ac3 file icon:

The ac3 file extension is used for for Dolby Digital sound files.

Launched in 1987, the Dolby Digital format is a digital audio encoding standard developed by Dolby Labs.

Unlike Dolby ProLogic systems, Dolby Digital audio tracks are independent (the term "discrete" is also sometimes used). For consumer electronics, the Dolby Digital format relies on a compression algorithm called AC3 (Audio Coding 3), which can compress audio streams by a factor of 10 to 12 with a 16-bit sampling rate of 48 kHz, for an overall bitrate of 384 kbps. For this reason, the Dolby Digital format is sometimes called Dolby AC3. For professionals, instead of an AC3 decoder, Dolby Digital uses a system called SR-D.

Dolby Digital is likely the most commonly used system in home theater systems. To be able to use media recorded in Dolby Digital format (DVD video or DVD audio, for example), you need a device with an integrated AC3 decoder.

Updated: April 21, 2024

The default software associated to open ac3 file:

Media Player

Company or developer:
Microsoft Corporation

Windows 11 default media player is called Media Player. Microsoft developed it for the latest Windows 11 operating system (OS). Media Player replaces the old Windows Media Player, Windows 10 Groove Music, and Microsoft Movies & TV. It was released to all Win11 users on February 15, 2022.

VLC media player

Company or developer:
VideoLAN Project Team

Very popular multimedia player developed for Windows, Apple Mac, Linux, Unix and various other operating systems and platforms.

VLC can playback many of the video formats (AVI, MKV, OGV, WMV, ASF, MOV...) and audio formats (MP3, AAC, M4A, OGG, FLAC...) as well as support of subtitles for video. It can also be used as a streaming server and multimedia transcoder.

Help how to open:

Most modern media players like VLC are able to play the *.ac3 files.

How to convert:

Use one of the listed converters to convert the *.ac3 files to another file format.

Find conversions from ac3 file:

Find converter to ac3 file type:

List of software applications associated to the .ac3 file extension

Recommended software programs are sorted by OS platform (Windows, macOS, Linux, iOS, Android etc.)
and possible program actions that can be done with the file: like open ac3 file, edit ac3 file, convert ac3 file, view ac3 file, play ac3 file etc. (if exist software for corresponding action in File-Extensions.org's database).

Hint:
Click on the tab below to simply browse between the application actions, to quickly get a list of recommended software, which is able to perform the specified software action, such as opening, editing or converting ac3 files.

Software that open ac3 file - Dolby Digital sound

Programs supporting the exension ac3 on the main platforms Windows, Mac, Linux or mobile. Click on the link to get more information about listed programs for open ac3 file action.