MPEG Audio Compression: Understanding the Fundamentals
Classified in Computers
Written on in
English with a size of 2.71 KB
Introduction
The principle of MPEG audio compression is quantization. However, the values being quantized are not the audio samples themselves, but rather numbers (called signals) taken from the frequency domain of the sound.
Encoding Process
- Bit Allocation: The encoder knows the compression ratio (or bit rate), allowing it to determine how many bits to allocate to the quantized signals. The adaptive bit allocation algorithm uses the bitrate and frequency spectrum of recent audio samples to minimize audible quantization noise (the difference between the original and quantized signal).
- Discrete Fourier Transform: Psychoacoustic models, which determine the quantization coarseness, rely on sound frequency. Since the input is audio samples, the first