Subband encoding is an audio compression technique where the sound is split into frequency bands and then parts of the signal which the ear cannot detect are removed, e.g. a quiet sound masked by a loud one. The remaining signal is encoded using variable bit-rates with more bits per sample being used in the mid frequency range..
Subband encoding is used, for example, in MPEG-1.
This article is based on material taken from the Free On-line Dictionary of Computing prior to 1 November 2008 and incorporated under the "relicensing" terms of the GFDL, version 1.3 or later.