MPEG-2 audio is the subband coding technology used for various audio applications. This paper presents a semi-custom ASIC design for the MPEG-2 audio decoder. The decoder implemented meets the requirements of the MPEG-2 international standard, and is divided into three parts: the preprocessor, the multichannel processor, and the synthesis filter. The decoder system has been designed in VHDL (VHSIC hardware description language), and developed as a single chip in a 0.6 μm CMOS semiconductor process