Backward compatibility
A new coding standard is backward compatible with an existing coding standard if existing decoders (designed to operate with the existing coding standard) are able to continue to operate by decoding all or part of a bitstream produced according to the new coding standard.


Bark
The Bark is the standard unit corresponding to one critical band width of human hearing.


Bitrate
The rate at which the compressed bitstream is delivered from the storage medium to the input of a decoder.


Bitstream
An ordered series of bits that forms the coded representation of the data.


Block companding
Normalising of the digital representation of an audio signal within a certain time period.


Byte
Sequence of 8-bits.


Byte aligned
A bit in a coded bitstream is byte-aligned if its position is a multiple of 8-bits from either the first bit in the stream or the first bit in the syncword.