Parametric stereo and multichannel coding methods are known to be scalable and efficient in terms of listening quality, which makes them particularly attractive in low bitrate applications. In cases where the bitrate limitations are of a transitory nature (e.g., network jitter, load variations), however, the full benefit of the available network resources may be obtained through the use of an adaptive distribution format, wherein a relatively higher bitrate is used during normal conditions and a lower bitrate when the network functions poorly. Existing adaptive distribution formats and the associated (de)coding techniques may be improved from the point of view of their bandwidth efficiency, computational efficiency, error resilience, algorithmic delay and further, in audiovisual media distribution, as to how noticeable a bitrate switching event is to a person enjoying the decoded media.
All the figures are schematic and generally only show parts which are necessary in order to elucidate the invention, whereas other parts may be omitted or merely suggested. Unless otherwise indicated, like reference numerals refer to like parts in different figures.