An audio codec is a computer program that compresses/decompresses digital audio data according to a given audio file format or streaming audio format. Most codecs are implemented as libraries which interface to one or more multimedia players, such as XMMS, Winamp or Windows Media Player. The terms computer program, software program, applications program, system software, or just program are used to refer to either an executable program by both lay people and computer programmers or the collection of source code from which an executable program is created (eg, compiled). ... In computer science and information theory, data compression or source coding is the process of encoding information using fewer bits (or other information-bearing units) than an unencoded representation would use through use of specific encoding schemes. ... Digital audio comprises audio signals stored in a digital format. ... To meet Wikipedias quality standards, this article or section may require cleanup. ... Streaming media is media that is consumed (read, heard, viewed) while it is being delivered. ... A media player is a piece of application software for playing back multimedia files. ... XMMSs default appearance The X Multimedia System (XMMS) is a free audio player very similar to Winamp, that runs on many Unix-like operating systems. ... Winamp is a multimedia player made by Nullsoft and eventually acquired by America Online. ... Windows Media Player is a proprietary software digital media player and media library application developed by Microsoft that is used for playing audio, video and images on personal computers running the Microsoft Windows operating system, as well as on Pocket PC and Windows Mobile-based devices. ...

In some contexts, the term "audio codec" can refer to a hardware implementation or sound card. When used in this manner, the phrase audio codec refers to the device encoding an analog audio signal to a digital audio signal, or decoding an analog audio signal from a digital audio signal. Thus, in such a context, the term is actually referring to a combined audio AD/DA converter. One example is Intel Corporation's AC'97 standard, which is comprised of a digital controller paired with an analog unit. A Sound Blaster Live! Value card, a typical present-day PCI sound card. ... The following article is about the multinational corporation; intel is also an abbreviation for intelligence, used in reference to military intelligence and espionage. ... AC97 (short for Audio Codec 97) is Intel Corporations Audio Codec standard developed by the Intel Architecture Labs in 1997, and used mainly in on-motherboards (a. ...

See also

• audio data compression
• codec
• list of codecs
• Open source codecs and containers