Bluetooth LE Audio and Auracast Explained: LC3, Multi-Stream and Broadcast Audio for Earbuds, TVs and Hearing Aids

Last updated: September 18, 2026

Quick Take

LE Audio moves Bluetooth audio from the Classic radio to the Low Energy radio. The Bluetooth SIG says its LC3 codec beats SBC even at a 50% lower bit rate, Multi-Stream Audio sends synchronized independent streams to each earbud, and hearing aids get standard support. Auracast lets one device broadcast to an unlimited number of receivers without pairing.

 

LE Audio is the Bluetooth audio architecture built on the Low Energy radio that adds the LC3 codec, Multi-Stream Audio, hearing aid support and broadcast audio, and Auracast is the part of it that lets one source broadcast sound to many people at once without pairing.

New earbuds and phones list LE Audio or Auracast support on the spec sheet, and it is not obvious what changes from the Bluetooth you already use. This explainer follows the official descriptions published by the Bluetooth SIG, the group that maintains the Bluetooth specifications, to sort out what each name means. Whether a specific pair of earbuds, phone or TV actually supports these features is a manufacturer spec-sheet check.

 

From the Classic radio to the Low Energy radio: where LE Audio sits

According to the Bluetooth SIG page on LE Audio, Classic Audio operates on the Bluetooth Classic radio while LE Audio operates on the Bluetooth Low Energy radio. LE Audio supports the same audio products and use cases as Classic Audio and adds features meant to improve their performance and enable new products.

So LE Audio is not a single codec but a new architecture that moves audio onto the low-energy radio. LC3, Multi-Stream Audio, hearing aid support and broadcast audio sit on top of it.

The specifications are complete and the SIG publishes developer resources for them. The benefits only show up when both the phone and the earbuds support LE Audio, so upgrading one side alone changes nothing.

 

What LC3 and Multi-Stream change inside your earbuds

LE Audio's new codec is LC3, the Low Complexity Communications Codec. The SIG says it provides high quality even at low data rates, and that extensive listening tests showed LC3 improves audio quality over the SBC codec used by Classic Audio even at a 50% lower bit rate.

How that saving is spent is up to the manufacturer. The SIG notes that developers can use the power savings for longer battery life or, where battery life is already sufficient, shrink the product by using a smaller battery. The design trade-off between sound quality and power consumption gets wider.

Multi-Stream Audio transmits multiple independent, synchronized audio streams between a source such as a smartphone and one or more sink devices. The SIG says this lets true wireless earbuds deliver better stereo imaging, makes voice assistants more seamless and smooths switching between multiple source devices.

  • Hearing aids: Building on low power, high quality and multi-stream capability, LE Audio adds support for hearing aids. EHIMA, the European hearing instrument manufacturers association, said that within a few years most new phones and TVs will be equally accessible to users with hearing loss.

  • Compatibility with today's gear: Because LE Audio supports the same products and use cases as Classic Audio, a supporting device keeps the familiar uses and gains the new ones.

 

Auracast: broadcasting to many listeners without pairing

LE Audio also adds broadcast audio, in which a source device broadcasts one or more audio streams to an unlimited number of sink devices. The capability built on it is Auracast broadcast audio, which the SIG describes as sharing high-quality audio from a single transmitter to unlimited devices without pairing.

  • Share your audio: Invite others to listen to what you are hearing.

  • Unmute public TVs: Hear the muted TVs in airports, gyms and waiting rooms through your own earbuds.

  • Assistive listening: Receive the broadcast directly in auditoriums and theaters. The SIG expects Auracast to become the next generation of assistive listening technology.

  • How you join: Joining is designed to feel like picking a Wi-Fi network from a list, scanning a QR code, or tapping.

  • The limit: Both your receiver and the device that controls it have to support Auracast, and whether a venue actually runs a transmitter is a separate question.

In short, LE Audio is a new low-energy audio architecture; LC3 and Multi-Stream change sound quality, battery life and synchronization in earbuds, while hearing aid support and Auracast change accessibility and sharing.

 

When you shop for earbuds or a phone, an LE Audio or Auracast label is only useful if both devices support it, so check the manufacturer spec sheet for which parts (LC3, Multi-Stream, broadcast reception) are included. The Bluetooth SIG pages remain the reference for what the terms mean.

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