Audio v. Data Compression

I have seen a few posts on some of the podcasting forums that prove some people confuse audio v. data compression. Maybe this short post will help you learn the difference.

We compress podcasts so that they can be easily downloaded over the Internet. That means we apply Data compression. Data compression involves running our recorded data through an additional encoding process, then decoding it on playback. If you've heard the term MP3, that is a form of compressed audio file that is coded and decoded (That's where the term CODEC comes from) for transfer and playback.

Audio compression on the other hand (something you might use an outboard device to accomplish or something you can do with software) has nothing to do with the Internet or file size. Audio compression refers to the sound's dynamic range. It is used to improve the way your recording sounds, not how fast it downloads.

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