Following is a list of popular speech, audio and video codecs. A codec is the circuit that performs the conversion from analog to digital or digital to digital (see codec).
Speech is a Subset of Audio
Audio codecs cover all sound whether spoken words or music. However, in order to create the most compressed digital data, speech codecs look for sound patterns commonly heard in a spoken language.
Conversion and Compression
Compressing audio and video is a two-stage process. The first stage converts the signals from the source into an uncompressed digital format. At that point, one of several compression algorithms is used to further compress the digital code.
Speech is a Subset of Audio
Audio codecs cover all sound whether spoken words or music. However, in order to create the most compressed digital data, speech codecs look for sound patterns commonly heard in a spoken language.
SPEECH CODECS Name Purpose A-Law PCM telephone circuit (Europe) µ-Law PCM telephone circuit (U.S.) DV Audio MiniDV audio GSM 6.10 GSM cellphone G.711 A/V conferencing (ITU) G.722 A/V conferencing (ITU) G.723.1 VoIP, A/V conferencing (ITU) G.728 A/V conferencing (ITU) G.729 A/V conferencing (ITU) AMR-NB GSM, 3GPP (ETSI narrowband) AMR-WB GSM, 3GPP (ETSI wideband) ACELP.net General speech (VoiceAge) ACELP.wide High quality (VoiceAge) AUDIO CODECS Name Purpose MP3 Music (MPEG) AAC Music (MPEG) AAC Protected Music (MPEG with DRM) WMA Music (Windows) WMA Protected Music (Windows with DRM) WMA Lossless Music (Windows lossless) RA, RAM Music (RealNetworks streaming) AIFF Music (Macintosh) AU Music (Sun) ACELP.live Music (VoiceAge) Ogg Vorbis Music (open source) FLAC Music (open source lossless) Apple Lossless Music (lossless) VIDEO CODECS Name Purpose MPEG-1 Movies (MPEG) MPEG-2 Movies (MPEG) MPEG-4 Movies (MPEG) H.264 Movies (MPEG/ITU) VC-1 Movies (SMPTE) AVI Movies (Windows) WMV Movies/Streaming (Windows) RM, RV Movies/Streaming (RealNetworks) Indeo Movies (Intel) Cinepak Movies (SuperMac Technologies) Sorenson Movies (Sorenson Media) H.261 Videoconferencing (ITU) H.263 Videoconferencing (ITU)
Conversion and Compression
Compressing audio and video is a two-stage process. The first stage converts the signals from the source into an uncompressed digital format. At that point, one of several compression algorithms is used to further compress the digital code.
 | Reproduced with permission from Computer Desktop Encyclopedia. Copyright (c) 1981-2009 The Computer Language Company Inc. All rights reserved. |
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