Codec:

A codec is a device or program that compresses information for transmission and decompresses the received information. Within the case of audio, codecs influence your listening involvement, whether you’re utilizing earphones, ear-buds or Bluetooth speakers.

Types of codecs:

There are three basic types of codecs which are used in technology advancement world,

  • Lossless compression

Lossless compression is an information compression calculation that permits for the compression and decompression of records without any thrashing to the quality.

  • Lossy compression

Lossy compression is an information calculation that disposes of less information within the record to form it less demanding to transmit. Typically usually use when network association isn’t great. It is most identifiable with video records when they come out pixilated. With sound and visual records, there’s a complex interaction between video quality, bit rate, coding and interpreting calculations, reactivity to loss of information and inactivity.

(https://www.3cx.com/pbx/codecs/)

  • Uncompressed audio:

Uncompressed audio is a sound record that has no compression connected to it. The sound in uncompressed sound records remains the same as when it was recorded. Examples are Plus Code Modulation (PCM), Audio Interchange File Format (AIFF) and Waveform Audio Format (WAV) designs.

(https://www.tomsguide.com/us/what-are-audio-codecs,review-4469.html)

Audio Codec:

An audio codec is a codec device or computer program competent of encoding or interpreting a computerized information stream that encodes or interprets sound. In a computer program, a sound codec may be a computer program implementing an algorithm that compresses and decompresses advanced sound information according to a given sound record or streaming media-sound coding format. The objective of the algorithm is to speak to the high-fidelity sound flag with the least number of bits whereas holding quality.

It encloses the digital-to-analog converter (DAC) and analog-to-digital converter (ADC) equally and manages the same converters at one time. This is used in sound cards that maintain audio inside and elsewhere together, for occurrence.

(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Audio_codec)

It is recognized as a computer program that compresses and decompresses a computerized audio signal. MP3, Windows Media Audio (WMA), Dolby Advanced and DTS are examples of prevalent codecs that compress and decompress advanced sound. It works like a hardware circuit that changes over sound waves into PCM advanced code and vice versa. The term may allude to only the A/D and D/A transformation, or it may include the compression procedure for assist decreasing the signal. In case the codec is specialized for the human voice, it is known as a “discourse codec,” “voice codec” or “vocoder”.

 (https://www.pcmag.com/encyclopedia/term/audio-codec)

List of open-source audio codec: (Irrelevant)*

  • FLAC – Lossless codec developed by Xiph.Org Foundation.
  • LAME – Lossy compression (MP3 format).
  • TooLAME/TwoLAME – Lossy compression (MP2 format).
  • Musepack – Lossy compression; based on MP2 format, with many improvements.
  • Speex – Low bitrate compression, primarily voice; developed by Xiph.Org Foundation. Deprecated in favor of Opus according to www.speex.org.
  • CELT – Lossy compression for low-latency audio communication
  • libopus – A reference implementation of the Opus format, the IETF standards-track successor to CELT. (Opus support is mandatory for WebRTC implementations.)
  • libvorbis – Lossy compression, implementation of the Vorbis format; developed by Xiph.Org Foundation.
  • iLBC – Low bit-rate compression, primarily voice
  • iSAC – Low bit-rate compression, primarily voice; (free when using the WebRTC codebase)
  • TTA – Lossless compression
  • WavPack – Hybrid lossy/lossless
  • Bonk – Hybrid lossy/lossless; supported by fre:ac (formerly BonkEnc)
  • Apple Lossless – Lossless compression (MP4)
  • Fraunhofer FDK AAC – Lossy compression (AAC)
  • FFmpeg codecs in the libavcodec library, e.g. AC-3, AAC, ADPCM, PCM, Apple Lossless, FLAC, WMA, Vorbis, MP2, etc.
  • FAAD2 – open-source decoder for Advanced Audio Coding. There is also FAAC, the same project’s encoder, but it is proprietary (but still free of charge).
  • libgsm – Lossy compression (GSM 06.10)
  • opencore-amr – Lossy compression (AMR and AMR-WB)
  • liba52 – a free ATSC A/52 stream decoder (AC-3)
  • libdca – a free DTS Coherent Acoustics decoder
  • Codec2 – Low bitrate compression, primarily voice

 (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_open-source_codecs)

Popular Audio codecs formats:

Name of audio codecs Properties/Formatting
FLAC (Free Lossless Audio Codec) FLAC conveys CD-quality sound in a record measure smaller than a real CD. It’s also a non proprietary, open-source codec that’s extraordinary for computer program engineers who need to utilize lossless audio.
WAV (Waveform Audio Format) Waveform Audio Format is an uncompressed sound organizes that’s extraordinary to utilize if you need to induce the first recorded material without losing sound quality. It’s perfect for shorter sound bites since their uncompressed shape implies they’re expansive records, making them difficult to stream.
MP3 (Moving Picture Experts Group Layer-3 Audio) It is one of the most well-known sound codecs. MP3 records use lossy compression, which compacts audio definitely. In a few cases, MP3 records can be 10 times smaller than WAV records. They are major space savers; the bit rate at which they’re recorded influences the sound quality.
WMA (Windows Media Audio) WMA is accessible in lossy and lossless WMA formats, which gives the audience a few choices.  Generally, WMA records are smaller than their uncompressed partners and comparable in usefulness to MP3s and FLAC records. In spite of the fact that WMA offers flexibility, it’s not consistent with all gadgets, particularly Apple gadgets
ALAC (Apple Lossless Audio Codec) It sounds identical to a unique recorded sound, but it’s compressed to a smaller estimate without disposing of bits. It works essentially with Apple items, which makes those categorizes for people without iOS gadgets. It moreover takes a longer time to download than lossy formats but it sounds extraordinary over Bluetooth.
Ogg Vorbis   Ogg Vorbis is an open-source and patent-free audio codec that’s extraordinary for streaming over the web without compromising speed. It gives amazing sound at lower bit rates than other lossy formats. The only drawback of Ogg Vorbis is that it compresses sound and disposes of information for smaller record sizes.
AAC(Advanced Audio Coding) It is another lossy codec that gives small sound records and works extraordinary for online streaming. AAC records aren’t supportive if you need a near-replica of the initial recording since bits are discarded. But it sounds faultlessly all right. The compressed record measure is perfect for portable gadgets.
AIFF (Audio Interchange File Format) AIFF is an audio/sound record that’s totally uncompressed and can be played on both Macs and PCs. It is essentially made by Apple, and it’s indistinguishable to CD-quality sound, but its large records increase download time and take up critical space, making the format less than perfect for convenient gadgets. Streaming is conceivable in AIFF, but it’s not commonly utilized.
DSD (Direct Stream Digital) It is an amazingly high-resolution uncompressed audio organize. DSD is indeed higher in quality than CD-quality and HD download formats such as FLAC and ALAC. Since DSD is such a high-quality sound codec, advanced sound converters are frequently required to play DSD records on the off chance that they’re not compatible along with your computer.

(https://www.tomsguide.com/us/what-are-audio-codecs,review-4469.html)

How to choose the right Audio Codec for your Audio recordings

While choosing the exact audio format it thoroughly depends upon the rationale and plan on which the audio format is applying. You ought to select an audio format that accomplishes the quality of sound which is the requirement, but nothing more. Superfluously high-quality audio records can be inconvenient to shift, share, change over, and supervise.

  • In professionalism, the uncompressed files are used to edit the audio files, which maintain the quality of the sound and save the file. After you are done with the audio formatting, you’ll be able to export it in an easier-to-distribute compressed format file. PCM, WAV, and AIFF are examples of uncompressed formats.
  • On the off chance that you’re an audiophile and want to listen to your music collection in hi-fidelity, select a format that uses lossless audio compression. You will use less capacity than an uncompressed format, but still hold the complete quality of the first recording. These formats incorporate FLAC, WMA, and M4A.
  • In case you plan on sharing the record on the Internet or got to moderate disk space, select a format that uses lossy sound compression. Fortunately, lossy compression has become so great in recent years that most individuals can’t tell the contrast between lossy and lossless compression. These designs include MP3, OGA and AAC