ABSTRACT
As technology improves, file sizes, content streams, and signals become increasingly larger. While storage and bandwidth are allowing for more space and traffic, bandwidth is always an issue. Bandwidth refers to the available area for electronic traffic over any system or network. Because bandwidth and space are defined by a finite amount, it is important to keep files and streams as small as possible without losing too much quality. This is where compression comes in as a tool. We use codecs to compress information for broadcast. A codec is a software program that compresses (co) and decompresses (dec) the information. Examples of programs that use codecs are Windows Media Player, QuickTime, RealAudio, and MP3.
