How does the **object-based audio** paradigm differ from **channel-based audio** mixing?

Sound elements are assigned 3D coordinates rather than being fixed to specific speaker channels

The shift from channel-based audio to object-based audio represents a fundamental break in how spatial sound is mixed and reproduced. In the older channel-based model, like 5.1 or 7.1, a sound mixer was constrained to assign an element directly to a specific physical output channel, such as the front-left speaker or the rear-right speaker. If the playback environment lacked that exact speaker configuration, the spatial effect would be compromised or lost. Conversely, object-based audio treats the sound element, like a clap of thunder, as an independent entity given specific coordinates in a three-dimensional space. The actual reproduction is then handled by a software engine known as the renderer, which dynamically decides in real-time which of the available physical speakers in the room should fire to best represent those intended coordinates, offering significant scalability.