AAC
Advanced Audio Coding
Advanced Audio Coding (AAC) is a widely-used audio coding standard for lossy digital audio compression. Designed as the successor to MP3 (MPEG-1 Audio Layer III), AAC was developed by a group of companies including Dolby, Sony, Nokia, and Fraunhofer IIS, and was officially declared an international standard by the Moving Picture Experts Group (MPEG) as part of their MPEG-2 and MPEG-4 specifications. AAC is known for delivering better sound quality than MP3 at similar bitrates, making it a popular choice for high-fidelity audio streaming and broadcasting.
One of the key strengths of AAC lies in its ability to efficiently encode audio signals with minimal loss of quality. This is achieved through the use of various sophisticated encoding techniques, including the Modified Discrete Cosine Transform (MDCT), which helps to reduce temporal and spectral redundancies in audio signals. AAC also supports a wider range of sampling frequencies and higher efficiency at handling higher frequencies, which contributes to its superior audio quality. Moreover, it offers various configurations and profiles, such as Low Complexity (AAC-LC) for general use, High Efficiency (HE-AAC) for low bitrate applications, and Enhanced Low Delay (AAC-ELD) for real-time communication, providing flexibility for different use cases.
AAC's efficiency and versatility have led to its widespread adoption in a multitude of platforms and applications. It is the default or a supported audio format in many devices, including smartphones, tablets, and personal computers. It is also commonly used in broadcasting, online music streaming services, and as the audio component in MP4 video files. Despite the emergence of other audio codecs, AAC remains a cornerstone in the digital audio landscape due to its balance of sound quality, efficiency, and compatibility.
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