YouTube TV 5.1 audio support rolling out to Amazon’s Fire TV devices

Google rolled out YouTube TV 5.1 audio support to a bunch of devices earlier this month, but Amazon’s Fire sub-brand was not among those mentioned by the Mountain View company. However, Google did say at the time that it’s working to bring 5.1 audio on Apple TV, Fire TV, and gaming consoles.

Today, Amazon confirmed that its Fire TV devices fully support YouTube TV’s 5.1 audio feature. That said, if you own a Fire TV Stick 4K Max, Fire TV Stick or Fire TV Stick Lite, you’ll now be able to enjoy high-quality 5.1 surround sound while watching YouTube TV.

Obviously, even with an Amazon Fire TV device you won’t be getting 5.1 surround audio if the program you’re watching doesn’t support the feature. To check whether or not the program carries surround sound, you should look at the audio details in Stats for nerds:

• Open the YouTube TV app on your TV, and play a video.
• Go to the player controls, then select More (three dots).
• Select the bug icon.
• Stats for nerds will be displayed on top of the video while the video is playing.

If the program supports 5.1 audio, then you should see AC-3/EAC-3 listed in the Codecs section.