Codec

Acronym for compressor/decompressor. A small piece of computer code that tells the computer how to decode particular types of information, usually video files. If your video player won't play a particular format, you can usually download and install a codec which will tell it how from the internet.

Most codecs employ proprietary coding algorithms for data compression, common examples being Dolby′s AC-2, ADPCM, and MPEG schemes.