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Concept
Codec
Summary
A codec is a device or computer program that encodes or decodes a data stream or signal. Codec is a portmanteau of coder/decoder.
In electronic communications, an endec is a device that acts as both an encoder and a decoder on a signal or data stream, and hence is a type of codec. Endec is a portmanteau of encoder/decoder.
A coder or encoder encodes a data stream or a signal for transmission or storage, possibly in encrypted form, and the decoder function reverses the encoding for playback or editing. Codecs are used in videoconferencing, streaming media, and video editing applications.
In the mid-20th century, a codec was a device that coded analog signals into digital form using pulse-code modulation (PCM). Later, the name was also applied to software for converting between digital signal formats, including companding functions.
An audio codec converts analog audio signals into digital signals for transmission or encodes them for storage. A receiving device converts the digital signals back to analog form using an audio decoder for playback. An example of this is the codecs used in the sound cards of personal computers. A video codec accomplishes the same task for video signals.
An Emergency Alert System unit is usually an endec, but sometimes just a decoder.
When implementing the Infrared Data Association (IrDA) protocol, an endec may be used between the UART and the optoelectronics.
In addition to encoding a signal, a codec may also compress the data to reduce transmission bandwidth or storage space. Compression codecs are classified primarily into lossy codecs and lossless codecs.
Lossless codecs are often used for archiving data in a compressed form while retaining all information present in the original stream. If preserving the original quality of the stream is more important than eliminating the correspondingly larger data sizes, lossless codecs are preferred.
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