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Definition of codec
: a device or software system that can digitize and often compress an audio or video signal for transmission (as over a telephone line) and convert an incoming signal to audio or video for reception
To permit satellite communication through such a compact antenna, an electronic device called a voice coder-decoder—or codec—translates speech into a digital signal. — Discover
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Time Traveler for codec
The first known use of codec was in 1967
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