A method for compressing a multichannel audio signal, the method comprising: dividing the multichannel audio signal into overlapping segments, wherein the multichannel audio signal comprises a plurality of channels; modifying the multichannel audio signal using a perceptual criterion; for each segment of the multichannel audio signal: extracting spectral densities from the channels of the modified signal; and calculating entropy rates of candidate sub-signals based on the extracted spectral densities, wherein each of the candidate sub-signals comprises a subset of the plurality of channels and each of the plurality of channels occurs in a single candidate sub-signal; obtaining an average of the entropy rates for a portion of the audio signal, wherein the portion of the audio signal comprises a plurality of the segments; selecting, based on the obtained average of the entropy rates for the portion of the audio signal, a signal rearrangement, from a plurality of candidate signal rearrangements, for the portion of the audio signal, that leads to a minimum sum of entropy rates wherein each of the candidate signal rearrangements comprises a subset of the candidate sub-signals and wherein a blossom algorithm is used to find the channel matching that yields the minimum sum of entropy rates; allocating bit rates to the candidate sub-signals of the selected signal rearrangement, wherein the allocation of the bit rates is optimized according to a criterion; and compressing the candidate sub-signals of the selected signal rearrangement with at least one audio codec at the allocated bit rates. dividing the multichannel audio signal into overlapping segments, wherein the multichannel audio signal comprises a plurality of channels; modifying the multichannel audio signal using a perceptual criterion; for each segment of the multichannel audio signal: extracting spectral densities from the channels of the modified signal; and calculating entropy rates of candidate sub-signals based on the extracted spectral densities, wherein each of the candidate sub-signals comprises a subset of the plurality of channels and each of the plurality of channels occurs in a single candidate sub-signal; extracting spectral densities from the channels of the modified signal; and calculating entropy rates of candidate sub-signals based on the extracted spectral densities, wherein each of the candidate sub-signals comprises a subset of the plurality of channels and each of the plurality of channels occurs in a single candidate sub-signal; obtaining an average of the entropy rates for a portion of the audio signal, wherein the portion of the audio signal comprises a plurality of the segments; selecting, based on the obtained average of the entropy rates for the portion of the audio signal, a signal rearrangement, from a plurality of candidate signal rearrangements, for the portion of the audio signal, that leads to a minimum sum of entropy rates wherein each of the candidate signal rearrangements comprises a subset of the candidate sub-signals and wherein a blossom algorithm is used to find the channel matching that yields the minimum sum of entropy rates; allocating bit rates to the candidate sub-signals of the selected signal rearrangement, wherein the allocation of the bit rates is optimized according to a criterion; and compressing the candidate sub-signals of the selected signal rearrangement with at least one audio codec at the allocated bit rates. <EOS>