Ljudkodek

Ljudkodek, or audio codec, is a software or hardware component that compresses and decompresses digital audio data. The encoder reduces data by removing redundant or perceptually less important information, producing a compressed bitstream. The decoder reconstructs audio for playback.

Codecs are categorized as lossy or lossless: Lossy codecs discard some audio information to achieve higher compression, relying on psychoacoustic models to minimize perceptible loss; examples include MP3, AAC, Ogg Vorbis, and Opus. Lossless codecs preserve exact original data, enabling perfect reconstruction, examples include FLAC, ALAC, WavPack, and Apple Lossless.

Codecs are used in many contexts: music streaming, broadcasting, telecommunications, and multimedia storage. They are distinct from audio containers, which carry compressed audio data along with metadata; containers such as MP4, MKV, or WAV hold encoded streams produced by codecs.

Key factors include bitrate, sample rate, bit depth, and latency. Higher bitrates improve quality at the cost of file size; low-latency codecs are important for real-time communication and interactive applications.

Licensing and patents affect codec adoption; many lossy codecs like MP3 and AAC required licensing in certain regions, whereas Opus and FLAC are open or royalty-free.

Common contemporary codecs include AAC and Opus for streaming, FLAC for lossless archiving, and MP3 for broad compatibility. The choice of codec depends on quality requirements, bandwidth, latency, and hardware support.