An audio compression scheme that is a continuation of the MP3 CODEC, but uses better filtering methods, noise shaping and quantization resolution to produce higher-quality audio files at smaller bit rates. AAC is designed for use in digital broadcasting systems as well as for multi-channel and surround audio (such as 5.1), and based on its capability to support up to 96kHz sampling rates and 48 channels [including LFE], AAC could be the basis for audio in multimedia for the foreseeable future. Some streaming audio formats that have adopted the AAC scheme already are Liquid Audio (.lqt), AT&T’s already fading .a2b format, and the soon-to-be-realized MP4 format.