It is said that GOM Player would appear some issues while processing the AC3 audio files. Based on its official announcement, GOM Player is compatible with AC3 format. Why did this happen always? Figuring out the problems and solutions would be the topic for today.

Part 1: About AC3 File

AC3 (full name Audio Coding3 Audio Coding 3) is synonymous with Dolby Digital, which is an advanced audio compression technology, it can encode up to six individual channels with a bit rate of up to 448kbps. The surround sound system provided by Dolby AC3 consists of 5 full-frequency channels and 1 subwoofer channel, which is called 5.1 surround sound that is the common name for six-channel surround sound audio systems. The six channels include front left and right, a center channel, two surround channels (left and right) and the low-frequency effects channel. The bass channel mainly provides some additional bass information to make some scenes, such as explosions and impacts, sound better.

The popularity of AC3 is very high. It is used in LaserDisc and DVD at a code rate of 384-448 kbps, and is also widely used in movie theaters at a code rate of 640 kbps. The six channels of information are all digitized during the production and restoration process, with little loss of information, and the details of the entire frequency band are very rich. Another popular audio format that has been compared a lot with AC3 is DTS. The full name of DTS is Digital Theater Systems (Digital Theater Systems), which is a lossy multi-channel home theater audio format, but it uses a very high bit rate for encoding, usually 768-1536kbps, can create better than AC3 Theater effect.

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Part 2: Can GOM Player Support AC3 Format

AC-3 is a 5.1-channel audio decoding, also known as Dolby Surround, which can be played on ordinary DVD players and more advanced Blu-ray players as well as various multimedia players. If you use a computer, you must install a corresponding sound card to decode. Generally speaking, AC3 can be easily played on the common media players, like what we have mentioned GOM Player. According to the official announcement, GOM Player can support AC3 format as well as AAC and so many other digital formats. But many users have reflected that when they tried to play the AC3 files directly or other videos with AC3 audio coding, then they would encounter the playback failure?

Why does this happen on GOM Player? If it is sure that AC3 can be supported by GOM Player, why was the AC3 playback unsuccessful? Even though AC3 is supported by GOM Player, the audio decoder for AC3 may be different, which means if the AC3 files you try to play are decoded by some audio decoders that are not compatible with GOM Player, then the AC3 files would not be played correctly. Usually, if the AC3 files contain the AC3 Filter, then they could be smoothly played on GOM Player. Instead, if some other decoders have been installed within AC3 files, like FFDShow or LAV filter, these problems would appear.

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Part 3: Download and Install AC3 Filter

Since the cause of the AC3 playback failure is the audio decoder within AC3 file, if the correct AC3 Filter could be downloaded and installed on your computer, then AC3 files could be easily played then. AC3 Filter is a free and open source audio decoding plug-in that supports MPEG1 / 2, AC3, DTS, LPCM format audio decoding, supports multiple audio tracks, SPDIF output, Dolby ProLogic decoding. Via AC3Filter, you can play AVI files and other audio files AC3 and DTS audio tracks.

In general, the Windows operating system has its own MP3 decoder-Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft IIS MPEG Layer-3 Audio Decoder (under Windows XP), so we can hear DVDrip audio in MP3 format. But for DVDrip encoded in AC3 (or DTS format) audio format, we can only see the image and cannot hear the sound. At this time, you should download and install the AC3Filter plug-in AC3Filter. Make your system can play AVI (DivX / Xvid) of AC3 audio track normally. Now, we would introduce the detailed steps on how to download and install AC3 Filter below.

Step 1. Search for AC3 Filter in the Google and locate the AC3 Filter download site.
Step 2. Enter the AC3 Filter main panel and you can find the “Download” button below the introduction of AC3. On the download panel, you would find various version of AC3 Filter, you can choose the first one “AC3 Filter 2.6.ob Full”.
Step 3. Start installing AC3 Filter on your computer. Once your AC3 Filter has been downloaded on your computer, then you can double click the exe file to start the installation process. It may take several seconds to complete the installation steps.
Step 4. Click “Finish” button to complete the installation process. When the AC3 Filter has been installed to your computer, then you can restart GOM Player to make it work.

Part 4: Convert AC3 to another GOM Player Audio Format

AC3 is much more complex and advanced than some other audio formats, like MP3 or WMV. If you are not sure about the downloading and installation process of AC3 Filter, then you can convert AC3 to another GOM Player compatible audio format. Leawo Video Converter is able to rip AC3 to various other audio formats with 100% original quality and 6X higher speed. During the video conversion processes, you would not be puzzled by any disruption of the any buffering issues. Concerning the supported output audio formats, Leawo Video Converter can be compatible with AC3, MP3, AAC, WAV, etc. Next, the detailed steps on how to convert AC3 to MP3 would be showed below.

   

Step 1. Download Leawo Video Converter and install it on your computer.
Step 2. Load the AC3 audio file to the program. You can click on the “Add Video” icon to import the file or just drag the AC3 directly to the main menu.

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Step 3. Select the output format. You can open drop-down box beside the green icon “Convert” to choose “Change” to enter the “Profile” panel where you can set the output audio format. Here, you can choose “MP3” under the “Common Audio” section.

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Step 4. Set MP3 audio parameters. You can just open the drop-down box to click “Edit” instead of “Change” in the main menu, which includes Audio Codec, Sample Rate, Bite Rate and Channel.

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Step 5. Start the conversion. Click the big green icon “Convert” on the main interface to start converting AC3 to MP3. Before it starts, you need to confirm the “Save to” route. Then just click “Convert” to start. Finally, you just need to wait and the conversion process will be completed in several minutes.

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Part 5: Free Alternative to Play AC3 Audio

Apart from obtaining GOM Player AC3 codec and AC3 Filter for GOM Player, turning to another free alternative media player which supports AC3 audio could be a more convenient choice for you. Here, Leawo Blu-ray Player is the one you should not miss. Here I will put Leawo Blu-ray Player in the first place for your reference.

As a 100% free and 6-in-1 media player software, Leawo Blu-ray Player contains all media playback solutions you need for your leisure entertainment, including video formats like 4K, Blu-ray, DVD, CD, HD (4K), MPEG, as well as various audio formats like AC3, AAC, WMV, MP3 and so on. With advanced image and audio processing technology, Leawo Blu-ray Player provides you extraordinary movie playback and cinema-like experience. Furthermore, within Leawo Blu-ray Player, you could obtain the personalized settings according to your preference and all the settings could be done automatically. You can even utilize this player software to back up your Blu-ray movies by converting Blu-ray to MKV files without quality loss.

blu-ray-player

Leawo Free Blu-ray Player 

☉ 100% free movie player for Windows & Mac users to play Ultra HD 4K, 1080P and 720P videos.

☉ Free Blu-ray/DVD player to play 4K disc, folder and ISO file, regardless of disc protection and region code.

☉ Support multiple audio decoding systems like Dolby, DTS, AAC, TrueHD, DTS-HD, etc.

☉ Adjust subtitles, video and audio during media playback.

☉ Serves as a powerful Blu-ray/DVD to MKV converter to convert Blu-ray/DVD disc, folder and ISO image to MKV with lossless quality and high speed.

In the following, I will list the detailed tutorial.

Step 1. Download Leawo Blu-ray Player and install it.
Step 2. Load the AC3 file to the player. You can click the “Open File” button on the home interface, or directly drag the AC3 file to the main interface of the player. Immediately, you would obtain the AC3 file playback no matter which encoder it has adopted.