Broadcasting Surround Sound with OBS

Overview

Like standard OBS Studio, Dolby.io OBS WebRTC version also supports surround sound streaming and recordings. Traditionally this is a feature reserved to professional broadcast appliances. Dolby.io OBS WebRTC can stream and record up to 8 audio channels.
The audio channels can be surround sound channels or more general multichannel ones. Dolby.io viewer will support playback of surround sounds.

Use cases:

gaming
music
virtual reality/360

Setup

Settings > Audio : just select a channel different from Mono or Stereo in the Channels list. Click OK to the Warning pop-up and restart OBS.

Settings > Output :

Output Mode : select Advanced
Advanced > Audio Tab : larger bitrates are unlocked for surround sound (up to 1024 kbs). Select a large bitrate. By default OBS-Studio selects 160 kbs for stereo. This is insufficient for surround sound. As a rule of thumb 64 kbs x number of channels should be CD quality.

Interfacing with a DAW

Windows

SAR (requires having an ASIO driver, for instance ASIO4ALL if you don't own an ASIO card).
rearoute (from Reaper, with up to 256 channels) if using ASIO plugin
Voicemeeter (Excellent guide here by Jack0r for Voicemeeter Banana)
Virtual Audio Cable (requires v.4.50 or later).

MacOS

A few available apps.

Soundflower
Jack server
Loopback

Ambisonics

If you have an Ambisonic it is also possible to publish spatial audio using the same set up. Here for the demo a Zoom H3-VR can be used. Set for Dolby.io OBS WebRTC is the same as 5.1 and with Zoom mic you will see for channels to capture and stream to your surround sound set up.

Properly set up for 4 channel ambisonics. This can be paired with a 360 camera.

Playback support

Millicast hosted player supports surround sound.

Windows

Set up requires proper sound settings enabled on your speakers. The set up shown is on a Vizio 5.1.2 Atmos sound bar.

On your Windows make sure you are using Chrome browser for you viewer.

MAC

Dolby.io Stream Monitor app can be install for free on your AppleTV.

Take advantage of advanced codecs for viewing paired with your surround sound system.