Level 1 (19 points)

Apple TV 4K only outputs stereo audio instead of Dolby 5.1

I have an Apple 4K TV box connected by HDMI to an LG 4K Television. I then have a Pioneer surround sound amp connected to the TV via an optical lead. This setup used to work fine with Dolby 5.1 being decoded by the amp. I’ve just noticed this stopped working and I could only get stereo. I have tried a range of different settings on the tv and Apple TV to no avail.

I can confirm the Apple TV app on the TV, outputs 5.1 through the optical lead. Worth noting that all the other tv apps, Netflix, Prime TV etc also work fine with Dolby 5.1.

just updated Apple TV box software to tvOS 27.0 with no resolution

whatsoever the point of an AppleTV box that only gives great video. Also need great audio

Any advice would be appreciated.

Thanks

Posted on Sep 28, 2026 2:18 PM

2 replies

Mudge00a Author

Level 1 (19 points)

Sep 28, 2026 2:55 PM in response to vazandrew

SOLVED

a bit of googling and found a solution that works (currently watching apollo13 on the AppleTV 4K via hdmi lead to a LG TV and optical lead back to a pioneer amp in an auto 5.1 surround vs stereo

To fix missing surround sound when routing an Apple TV through an LG TV to an optical audio device, you must manually change the Apple TV audio format to Dolby Digital 5.1 and set the LG TV digital output to [Passthrough or PCM/Auto](index:0.6.6, 0.6.11) depending on your setup.

vazandrew

Level 8 (41,662 points)

Sep 28, 2026 2:23 PM in response to Mudge00a

You said having tried different settings, but just to confirm. Go into settings - video/audio - audio format. Make sure it is set to dolby digital 5.1 and not auto.

Originally posted at discussions.apple.com/thread/256366760