When it comes to movies, great video is nice, but great audio is essential. Blocky video with crisp audio is watchable, but pristine HD video with choppy, muffled speech is impossible to endure.

Netflix just upgraded the audio in its Android app to “studio quality,” with tweaks to the audio codec that make it easier to listen in noisy environments and prevent things from getting choppy if your cellular connection is hopping. With that in mind, what kind of audio experience can we expect from other streaming services?

"Dolby Atmos is an incredible codec. Netflix has some content, but you have to have an Ultra HD subscription and go hunting for it. It also depends on the device," collaboration technologies expert Samuel Cordery told Lifewire via Twitter. "Disney+ has some Atmos content, as does Amazon Prime and Apple TV, but you have to check the libraries and look for the logo."

The Netflix Android update adds “Extended HE-AAC with MPEG-D DRC (xHE-AAC)”. This is seemingly aimed squarely at improving the mobile audio experience, by “enhancing intelligibility in noisy environments” and adapting to variable mobile connections.