Clipping protection in fixed-width audio mixing

An apparatus provides both clipping protection and signal level conservation while the system operates in the original width type. The apparatus includes a first shifting unit right shifting a first digital input signal to provide a first shifted signal; a second shifting unit right shifting a second digital input signal to provide a second shifted signal; a combiner combining the first shifted signal and the second shifted signal to provide a combined signal; a soft limiter soft limiting the combined signal by reducing some of the amplitudes of the combined signal to provide a soft limited signal; and a third shifting unit left shifting the soft limited signal to provide an output signal.