Provided are a method and apparatus for transmitting digital multimedia broadcasting data, and a method and apparatus for receiving digital multimedia broadcasting data. A basic audio signal and a multichannel audio signal are encoded to generate a basic audio stream and a multichannel audio stream, and a first data stream describing property and position data of the basic audio stream and a second data stream describing property and position data of the multichannel audio stream are transmitted as independent streams. According to the performance of the receiving apparatus, an audio signal may be decoded by using just the first data stream only or both the first data stream and the second stream.