What are codecs?
A codec is a device or piece of software capable of encoding or decoding a digital stream or a signal for transmission over a data network. A codec can be for audio or video content. The only basic difference between these two is that one is an algorithm designed to compress and decompress audio files and the other is for video files. These two codecs can be divided into two further categories: lossless codec and lossy codecs.
Lossless compression is a data compression algorithm that allows for the compression and decompression of files without any loss of quality.
Lossy compression is a data algorithm that discards some data in the file to make it easier to transmit. This is usually utilized when the network connection is not great. It is most identifiable with video files when they come out pixelated.
With audio and visual files, there is a complex interaction between video quality, bit rate, coding and decoding algorithms, reactivity to loss of data and latency.
The following is a list of Codecs that are in common use today: