Abstract: The acoustic radiation modes express the radiation patterns of a vibrating surface. Based on the acoustic radiation modes, the properties of acoustic energy radiation from a vibrating surface and acoustic energy transfer in the acoustic field are discussed, and the patterns of acoustic energy radiation and transfer are given. The surface sound intensity is used to describe the acoustic energy radiation from a vibrating surface and the sound intensity is used to describe the acoustic energy transfer in the acoustic field. The surface sound intensity and the sound intensity can be divided into tow parts. One part makes contribution to the acoustic power and transfers the acoustic energy into the far field. The other part describes an exchange between the vibrating surface and the near field. For a rectangular plate, the radiation and transfer of acoustic energy are studied and the numerical results agree with the theoretic results. It has been shown that the approach for acoustic energy radiation and transfer based on the acoustic radiation modes is available.