YouTube TV is available on many devices, but it does not support 5.1 surround sound on all of them. The streaming television service first rolled out 5.1 Dolby Audio support for its platform in June 2021 but limited it to smart TVs from Samsung, LG, Vizio, and the original Chromecast. This meant that users with a home theater system could not enjoy it to the fullest while watching content from YouTube TV on their streaming box. In March this year, the company realized that 5.1 surround sound support is important for users on other devices and announced that it is testing support for Roku, Android TV, and Google TV. Over two months later, the public release of 5.1 audio support for these platforms has finally begun.

YouTube TV announced on Twitter that 5.1 audio support is rolling out to Google TV, Android TV, and Roku devices this week. In a separate tweet, the official Google account also confirmed that Chromecast with Google TV is gaining support for 5.1 audio on YouTube TV. Additionally, the platform is working on adding surround sound audio support for Apple TV, Fire TV, PS5/4, and other gaming consoles.

If you have a compatible speaker system, device, and the program you are watching supports 5.1 audio, you will be able to enjoy surround sound output. There's no app update or option that you need to install or enable. Google notes in a support document that you can check if a program is outputting 5.1 audio or not via the Stats for nerds menu.

1. Open the YouTube TV app on your TV, and play a video.
2. Go to the player controls, then select More.
3. Select the bug.
4. Stats for nerds will be displayed on top of the video while the video is playing.

If AC-3/EAC-3 is shown in the Codecs section, the program is outputting 5.1 surround sound audio.