Embedded audio solutions are increasingly leveraging MIPI interfaces and protocols to interconnect ever greater numbers of advanced audio components, subsystems and systems-on-chips (SoCs). Since the advent of MIPI SLIMbus® in 2008 (now a legacy specification), MIPI’s portfolio of audio specifications has greatly expanded with the release of MIPI SoundWire® in 2015, and the new MIPI SoundWire I3S (SWI3S™) specification, released in October 2025. Recent developments also include the delivery of two important audio software specifications – MIPI DisCo™ for SoundWire® and MIPI SoundWire Device Class for Audio (SDCA™). These advancements enable the current portfolio of MIPI audio specifications to address an ever-broadening set of embedded audio use cases within mobile devices, tablets, laptop PCs, IoT devices, automobiles and beyond.
In this three-part webinar series, the leaders of the MIPI Audio and Software working groups provide an introduction to the portfolio of current MIPI audio specifications and share insights into future specifications in development. The series starts with a primer session, offering a system-level overview and high-level introduction to MIPI audio interfaces and supporting software specifications. Building on this introductory session, the following two webinars take a more in-depth look at the latest audio advancements—MIPI’s new SWI3S audio interface, and the growing suite of audio software specifications and tools.
This introductory session sets the stage for the week's more in-depth webinars covering the upcoming MIPI SWI3S specification, and audio software specifications and tools. It begins with a system-level overview of MIPI’s portfolio of audio interfaces and supporting software specifications, explaining how this comprehensive suite of specifications provides a flexible framework for the development of embedded audio systems.
After the overview, the session examines each MIPI audio interface in more detail, covering the current MIPI SoundWire, new MIPI SWI3S and (briefly) legacy MIPI SLIMbus interfaces, diving into the history, purpose, characteristics and properties of each interface. A brief overview of MIPI’s supporting audio software specifications, conformance test suite and other tools is also be included.
The MIPI SWI3S specification addresses the market’s need for a new low latency, multi-drop, higher transport bandwidth (up to 76 Mbps) audio interface. The specification provides multiple physical-layer (PHY) options with unified protocol and software, including reduced EMI/EMC 2-wire low voltage signaling with embedded clock, suitable for use in ever-smaller, more tightly packaged devices (e.g., smart earbuds, smartwatches), and larger devices that require multi-meter audio line lengths (e.g., cars, robots, large display panels).
This session offers a comprehensive guide to the SWI3S interface, covering key use cases, characteristics and properties, as well as new PHY options, protocols and command flows (with examples). It also provides an overview of key features and enhancements (over previous generation MIPI / non-MIPI audio interfaces), a summary of supporting specifications and tools (including the SWI3S visualizer tool), and a preview of what’s coming next in SWI3S v1.1.
MIPI’s publicly available audio software specifications define standardized mechanisms for host devices to interact with host-controllable audio devices connected via a MIPI SoundWire interface, simplifying audio software architectures and driver requirements for SoundWire-connected devices.
This session explores MIPI’s target audio software framework, covering MIPI SDCA and the MIPI DisCo Specification for SoundWire, and previews the upcoming MIPI Audio Portal Specification. It also dives into how these software specifications can be leveraged by developers to optimize the integration of microphones, amplifiers and other audio devices into host platforms.