Codec

A codec is a device or program capable of encoding and/or decoding a digital data stream or signal via specialized algorithms. For example, AC-3 (Dolby® Digital) is a type of codec. Most codecs are lossy (for example mp3), reducing the size of the resulting stream by omitting part of the original data and therefore enabling higher network transmission rates or storage capacity.

Lossless codecs are able to compress data without losing any information. Because no information is lost, the compression ratio of lossless codecs is far less than that of lossy codecs. Lossless codecs are preferable if later repurposing, processing, or editing of the audio file is desired.

This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License found at http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/fdl.html. It uses material from the Wikipedia article at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Codec.