Online Computer Terms Dictionary - L

lossless audio compression

<audio, compression> Any kind of audio compression in which the original signal and the decoded signal are bitwise identical. Lossless audio compression algorithms are usually based on a data compression algorithm like PKzip or gzip but specialized for PCM audio data. The signal is divided into predictable tonal components and unpredictable noisy components. Tonal components are stored as coefficients of a predictor, the remaining signal is coded by a Rice, Huffman, or arithmetic coder.

(2001-12-24)