Dear Unreal Engine Audio Team,
Hello,
I am currently developing a game working on a UE 5.6 project, I would like to submit a feature request regarding the engine’s internal audio precision and runtime output quality.
At the moment, as far as current documentation and observed behavior indicate, imported audio assets (including 24-bit WAV and 32-bit float WAV files) are converted to 16-bit PCM within Unreal’s audio pipeline. This means that, regardless of the original source resolution, the cooked game builds effectively run at 16-bit audio precision.
For many titles this is sufficient, but for projects that place a strong emphasis on audio quality and immersion – such as music-focused games, narrative-driven experiences, or high-end cinematic projects – it would be highly beneficial if Unreal Engine could support a higher-resolution internal and runtime output path.
I would like to ask:
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Are there any plans in the future to allow the in-game audio pipeline and runtime output to support higher bit depths, such as 24-bit or even 32-bit float?
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If official support is not feasible in the short term, could you provide some recommended directions or technical guidance, so that we can implement higher bit-depth audio processing and playback ourselves, for example via C++ plugins, a custom Audio Mixer, or a custom audio output device?
Thank you very much for your continuous work on improving the Unreal Engine audio system, and for taking the time to consider this request.