# High Fidelity

> High Fidelity began as Philip Rosedale's heavily funded attempt to build an open, distributed successor to Second Life. When consumer VR adoption lagged, the company cut staff and separated its most practical invention from the abandoned world around it: a low-latency spatial-audio engine. Today it licenses that technology for apps and runs Quad, a browser venue designed for gatherings where people move among conversations instead of waiting inside breakout rooms.

- **Founded:** 2013
- **Headquarters:** San Francisco, United States
- **Founders:** Philip Rosedale (Cofounder and advisor; formerly CEO), Ryan Downe Karpf (Cofounder and product leader), Irena Freidrica Heiberger (Cofounder and advisor; formerly CFO)
- **Products:** High Fidelity Spatial Audio, Spatial Audio API and SDKs, Quad
- **Notable:** Raised more than $70 million across five reported financings by 2018., Built an open-source distributed social-VR platform before refocusing on enterprise communication and spatial audio., Licensed HRTF technology to Clubhouse for its 2021 spatial-audio launch.

## Products & services

- **High Fidelity Spatial Audio** — Cloud and client software for low-latency, high-dynamic-range positional voice, multi-stream mixing, noise control and HRTF effects in web and native applications.
- **Spatial Audio API and SDKs** — Developer tooling for placing and moving voices and sounds in 2D or 3D environments, with WebRTC-based delivery and web/native integration.
- **Quad** — A browser-based virtual gathering venue organized as movable tables for social events, education, affinity groups and enterprise communities.

## Achievements

- Raised more than $70 million across five reported financings by 2018.
- Built an open-source distributed social-VR platform before refocusing on enterprise communication and spatial audio.
- Licensed HRTF technology to Clubhouse for its 2021 spatial-audio launch.
- Released JavaScript libraries, sample applications and integration guides for spatial audio.
- Turned its audio research into Quad, a browser venue for recurring social and community gatherings.
- Published a working floor-control experiment for multiple AI agents in live group voice sessions in 2026.

## Latest updates

- **2026-09** — High Fidelity described a Quad prototype that gives multiple AI agents voices in meetings and uses server-side floor control to stop collisions and unwanted speech.
- **2026-08** — Quad was presented as High Fidelity's browser-based venue for social gatherings, education, affinity groups and enterprise events.
- **2022-01** — High Fidelity invested in Linden Lab, transferred employees and patents, and Philip Rosedale returned to Second Life as a strategic adviser.
- **2021-08** — Clubhouse launched spatial audio using licensed HRTF code from High Fidelity.

## Links

- Website: https://www.highfidelity.com/
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/highfidelityxr
- Twitter/X: https://x.com/HighFidelityXR
- GitHub: https://github.com/highfidelity
- YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/HighFidelityXR
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/HighFidelityXR/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/HighFidelityXR

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Profile page: https://yespress.io/high-fidelity
Published by YesPress — https://yespress.io
Last updated: 2026-09-28