DVD-Audio (also abbreviated as DVD-A) is a digital format designed to provide high-resolution audio on a DVD disc. DVD-Audio is not the same as a standard DVD-Video disc and generally DVD-Audio discs have very limited video content.

DVD-Audio discs can support from mono up to 6 channels of audio. Mono and Stereo audio tracks are supported up to 24-bit/192kHz, and 5.1 surround tracks are supported up to 24-bit/96kHz. Discs can have multiple tracks, so for example a DVD-A disc can contain both a 24-bit/192kHz stereo audio track as well as a 24-bit/96kHz 5.1 surround audio track.

The high-resolution audio on DVD-A discs is stored on the disc in Linear PCM format. The audio may be stored on the disc either in an uncompressed format, or compressed using Meridian Lossless Packing (MLP). Depending on the amount of audio tracks on the disc, compression may be necessary.

While a DVD-Audio player is required in order to access and play the high-resolution audio on a DVD-A disc, most DVD-A discs are also backwards compatible and will play on a standard DVD-Video player as well. Most DVD-A discs contain DVD-Video compatible data with a standard Dolby Digital 5.1 or Dolby Digital 2.0 soundtrack that can be played on a standard DVD player. Some DVD-A discs even contained DTS 96/24 audio tracks.

The most typical connection to an audio system for a DVD-A player is via 6-channel analog connections, thus allowing the DVD-A player to decode the high resolution audio in the player and stream it to the audio system in an analog format. All current Rotel surround receivers and processors provide an analog multichannel input that would allow connection of a DVD-Audio player.

Due to the large bandwidth required to transmit HD audio, the only digital cable with sufficient bandwidth to allow digital streaming of the high-resolution audio tracks on a DVD-A disc is HDMI. As DVD-A discs use Linear PCM for the audio format any HDMI device that supports audio over HDMI should be able to play back audio from a DVD-A disc via HDMI.