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TechRadar
Jacob Krol

Peacock will be the first streaming service with Dolby Vision 2 HDR and next-gen Atmos audio encoding

The Dolby Vision 2 logo, with a TV showing a colorful image, watched by a woman.

Peacock is already one of the best streaming services for its breadth of content, offering everything from Wicked to Minions, plus SNL, Bravo shows, cult favorites like The Office, and a wide range of live content, from the NBA to the NFL, with WWE in between. Now, it’s deepening its ties with Dolby to help ensure that whatever you’re streaming looks its best.

Announced at CES 2026, Peacock is diving deeper into Dolby’s technology across both picture and sound, adding support for Vision and Atmos even on live sports streaming – something Peacock is continuing to dive headfirst into in 2026 with the upcoming Winter Olympics in Milan, along with the NBA, NFL, and even wrestling.

That means whether you’re streaming a AAA movie, the latest episodes of The Real Housewives of Salt Lake City, or even live sports like the NBA (National Basketball Association) or NFL (National Football League), you’ll be able to take advantage of Dolby Vision and Dolby Atmos.

Not only that, but Peacock will support Dolby Vision 2 and Dolby AC-4, which are expected to launch later in 2026 – these are the next-gen formats for better image quality and audio options through Dolby's tech.

(Image credit: Dolby/Peacock)

Dolby Vision 2 will help eliminate judder in movies, but also the dreaded soap opera effect – when your TV’s processing applies too much motion smoothing – and will help retain detail in both extremely dark and extremely bright scenes. My colleague Matthew Bolton, TechRadar’s Managing Editor of Entertainment, had the opportunity to demo Dolby Vision 2, and it was impressive.

I’m keen to see it roll out and make an impact for Peacock subscribers, helping content truly shine. It’s an impressive technical lift, but we haven't known until know where we'll be able to watch Dolby Vision 2 movies and TV – but now we know Peacock will support it across both on-demand content and live broadcasts.

Dolby AC-4, meanwhile, is the new audio encoder used to deliver Dolby Atmos, replacing the AC-3 codec used for streaming today. It not only enables more efficient streaming, but also enables you to customize the audio mix to your needs, potentially adding options such as dialogue enhancement into the original audio, rather than your TV handling that. I’ll be curious to see how Peacock rolls this out.

However, we don't know exactly when this will roll out, or what movies and shows will use the more advanced options in Dolby's next-gen tech.

All in all, it’s an exciting development to see a major streaming service fully embrace Dolby with support for Vision 2 and Dolby AC-4 – and hopefully one that other streaming services will follow.

TechRadar will be extensively covering this year's CES, and will bring you all of the big announcements as they happen. Head over to our CES 2026 news page for the latest stories and our hands-on verdicts on everything from wireless TVs and foldable displays to new phones, laptops, smart home gadgets, and the latest in AI.

And don’t forget to follow us on TikTok and WhatsApp for the latest from the CES show floor!

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