The LEAD MPEG Audio Encoder is a DirectShow® filter for compressing Audio data using the MPEG-1 Layer 2 audio compression standard (ISO/IEC 11172-3). This audio format can be multiplexed into an MPEG-1 or MPEG-2 file. Use this audio codec Software component that compresses and decompresses audio. Codec A COmpressor combined with a DECompressor, or encoder and a decoder, which allows you to both compress and decompress that same data. stands for COmpressor Also known as an encoder, this is a module or algorithm to compress data. Playing that data back requires a decompressor, or decoder. and DECompressor.Codec stands for COmpressor and DECompressor. when you create MPEG-1 or MPEG-2 files, or DVDs.

MPEG-1 Layer 3 compression offers higher audio compression than MPEG-1 Layer 2, but this audio compression is not supported by most MPEG splitters.