Encode

Encoding a soundtrack entails converting audio source information into another form for a specific use.

Some examples are:

AC-3 (Dolby® Digital) encoding creates a compressed file from a digital audio stream for DVD mastering.

Dolby® E encoding allows for up to eight separate channels of audio to be encoded and recorded onto just two channels of a deliverable, in order to supply multiple stereo versions or languages of a program on a single element.

Ultra Stereo™ encodes four channels of audio into a matrix of two channels that can be played back successfully with two speakers or decoded to play back in its original four-channel configuration.