Codec

Codec is an abbreviation of "coder/decoder", which describes a device or program capable of performing transformations on a data stream or signal. Codecs can both put the stream or signal into an encoded form (often for transmission, storage or encryption) and retrieve, or decode that form for viewing or manipulation in a format more appropriate for these operations. Codecs are often used in videoconferencing and streaming media solutions.

For instance, many multimedia data streams need to contain both audio and video data, and often some form of metadata that permits synchronization of the audio and video. Each of these three pieces of data may be handled by different programs, processes, or hardware; but for the multimedia data stream to be useful in stored or transmitted form, they must be encapsulated together.

Some examples of codecs include the following:

Audio
- High Fidelity (i.e., lossless)
  - FLAC
  - shorten
  - Monkey's Audio
  - LA = Lossless Audio
  - OptimFrog
  - WavePack
  - LPAC
  - Windows Media Audio 9 Series Professional Lossless
- General (Medium...high bitrate, general purpose)
  - MP1 (MPEG audio layer-1)
  - MP2 (MPEG audio layer-2)
  - MP3 (MPEG audio layer-3)
  - AAC
  - TwinVQ
  - Vorbis
  - Musepack
  - ATRAC
  - Windows Media Audio 9 Series
- Voice (Low...medium bitrate, specialized for speech)
  - Speex
  - GSM
  - G.711
  - G.723.1
  - G.729
  - ADPCM
  - HILN (MPEG-4 Parametric audio coding)
  - Windows Media Audio 9 Series Voice
Digital video
- AVS
- Theora
- Tarkin
- H.261
- H.263
- H.263v2
- H.264
- MPEG-1 Video
- MPEG-2 Video
- MPEG-4 Video
- Sorenson codec
- Cinepak
- Indeo 3/4/5
- MJPEG
- DivX 1-5.1
- Windows Media Video 9 Series

The codec is not to be confused with the file format used to store the a/v information encoded by the codec. File formats like ".ogg", ".mpg", ".avi", ".mov", etc. are used to store information encoded by a codec.