Both are object-based surround formats: instead of mixing sound to fixed channels, they describe sounds as objects in a space and let the equipment place them across whatever speakers exist.
Where they differ in practice
Licensing and availability, more than sound. Dolby Atmos is on almost every streaming platform that offers immersive audio; DTS:X appears mostly on discs. A large physical collection makes DTS:X support worth having; a streaming-only household will rarely meet it.
What object-based actually changes
A channel-based mix decides in the studio which speaker a sound comes from. An object-based mix says where the sound is, and the decoder works out which speakers you have. The same soundtrack therefore adapts to a 5.1.2 and a 7.1.4 without being remixed.
What neither format does
Create height from a system that has none. Both degrade gracefully to the speakers present, which is why a 5.1 system playing an Atmos track sounds like a good 5.1 system rather than like anything above it.
The specification to read
Which formats the receiver or bar decodes, listed individually. A device that lists one has told you what it does; a device whose listing says “supports all major formats” has not.
Questions people actually ask
Do I need equipment that supports both?
It is worth having if the choice is free, because physical media uses both and a receiver that decodes only one will fall back to a lower format on the other. On streaming, Atmos is far more common.
Is one better than the other?
They are different implementations of the same idea — sound as objects placed in space rather than as fixed channels — and the difference between two soundtracks is far larger than the difference between the two formats. Neither is a reason to choose a receiver.
Last reviewed 4 September 2026