Even though Apple's Vision Pro remains essentially a development platform for the future of augmented reality, the vast majority of the devices has been quickly grabbed by engineering companies who use it as a design and visualization tool, while the rest is now being used to create content by those who want to be pioneers in this emerging concept.
When Apple launched the Vision Pro, it explained that the "augmented reality and spatial computing" device would enable a new standard in immersive experiences - for entertainment, engineering, visualization, etc. Although Apple has been building content capture tools using the iPhone, the Vision Pro has been supported since inception by an official partner: Blackmagic Design. The Australian manufacturer, which now offers a wider range of professional production tools than Sony or any other company in the media creation space, was even the first to launch a dedicated stereoscopic professional image capture solution - the Blackmagic URSA Cine Immersive camera.
For this Spatial Audio system, Apple is creating a whole new range of advanced components and software algorithms, including personalization features, contained in a lossless format that can also be streamed to other devices such as the AirPods Pro. This format - Apple Spatial Audio Format (ASAF) - is intended for content created for the Apple Vision Pro system only and is not intended - for now, at least, to compete with any other existing distribution formats for general media distribution.
Because it was intended for the Vision Pro system, unlike conventional formats like Dolby Atmos, ASAF dynamically adapts audio in real-time to both the head movement of the user and specific room acoustics, using enhanced metadata and context-aware rendering. ASAF combines its specific metadata and linear PCM audio, processed by a powerful spatial audio renderer built into Apple platforms. It works alongside the Apple Positional Audio Codec (APAC), which packages the audio (streaming between 64 kbps and 768 kbps) primarily for delivery in .MP4 files. APAC was standardized mid-2024. While ASAF is not a replacement for Dolby Atmos, it can wrap and enhance Atmos content, adding layers of head-tracking and environmental interaction that pure Atmos does not support.
All technical details for ASAF and APAC have been disclosed during dedicated developer sessions during Apple's WWDC 2025 event, in June 2025.
Blackmagic Power
Blackmagic Design is the official Vision Pro content production partner that Apple identified from day one, and the company now announced DaVinci Resolve 20.1 as the software update that brings all the promised tools to fruition. DaVinci Resolve 20.1 adds support for Apple Immersive Video - users can import the format captured in iPhones or the new Blackmagic URSA Cine Immersive camera, visualize the stereoscopic content on the timeline of standard 2D monitors, and perform all the sophisticated editing and post-production offered by the standard DaVinci Resolve software, including color correction, and add advanced effects and compositing. All the content generated with DaVinci Resolve 20.1 can also be directly streamed to an Apple Vision Pro for an even more immersive editing experience.
DaVinci Resolve Studio for macOS supports decoding and playback of the stereoscopic 8K 90fps Blackmagic RAW files from the URSA Cine Immersive camera, creating a complete content generation solution from editing to playback on Apple Vision Pro. New project settings bring Apple Immersive Video to every page, including a new immersive video viewer that lets users view work on any standard monitor, an updated spatial Audio Editor, as well as multiple ways to review and export Apple Immersive Video on Apple Vision Pro.
"We are excited to release this update for DaVinci Resolve Studio, which adds tools for Apple Immersive Video to the edit, color, Fairlight, and Fusion pages," says Grant Petty, Blackmagic Design CEO. "Now filmmakers can create stunning immersive content that was previously too complex or expensive to produce. The best part is that you can edit, grade, and mix 3D immersive video and audio using familiar tools from 2D projects! We can’t wait to see the immersive action, drama, concerts, sports, and other incredible experiences our customers will create using DaVinci Resolve!"
The DaVinci Resolve Studio 20.1 for macOS is the first tool that also allows editing and mixing Spatial Audio. Users can mix and master the immersive Apple Spatial Audio Format (ASAF) soundtracks in the Fairlight page, which fully supports integrated native operation with up to 7th order Ambisonic busses as well as objects and channels. The 3D panner view is enhanced for ASAF and lets users place sounds almost anywhere in 3D space, including object position, orientation, and room simulation. Users can even import and remix existing 3D audio formats into ASAF for Apple Vision Pro.
The media and delivery pages in DaVinci Resolve Studio 20.1 have also been updated to include presets for Apple Immersive Video export. Users can select the presets to render their immersive project, just like a normal project, then drag and drop the rendered file in the Apple Immersive Video Utility for macOS. This means that the immersive video is now ready to stream to any Apple Vision Pro.
Content created in Apple Spatial Audio Format (ASAF) integrated into Blackmagic DaVinci Resolve 20.1 can be saved in both a BWF .wav file as well as a compressed .mp4 file. The compression is carried out using the Apple Positional Audio Codec (APAC). The .mp4 file can be played on recent tvOS, iOS, macOS, iPadOS, and visionOS devices. The AirPods Pro earbuds support monitoring ASAF in binaural with head-tracking.
DaVinci Resolve 20.1 is available now for download from the Blackmagic Design website.
www.blackmagicdesign.com
