[4] In electronic communications, an endec is a device that acts as both an encoder and a decoder on a signal or data stream,[5] and hence is a type of codec.
Originally, in the mid-20th century, a codec was a hardware device that coded analog signals into digital form using pulse-code modulation (PCM).
A receiving device converts the digital signals back to analog form using an audio decoder for playback.
[6] In addition to encoding a signal, a codec may also compress the data to reduce transmission bandwidth or storage space.
Lossless codecs are often used for archiving data in compressed form while retaining all information present in the original stream.
If preserving the original quality of the stream is more important than eliminating the correspondingly larger data sizes, lossless codecs are preferred.
Smaller data sets ease the strain on relatively expensive storage sub-systems such as non-volatile memory and hard disk, as well as write-once-read-many formats such as CD-ROM, DVD, and Blu-ray Disc.
Once a fake codec is installed it is often used to access private data, corrupt an entire computer system or to keep spreading the malware.
One of the previous most used ways to spread malware was fake AV pages and with the rise of codec technology, both have been used in combination to take advantage of online users.
[8] This combination allows fake codecs to be automatically downloaded to a device through a website linked in a pop-up ad, virus/codec alerts or articles as well.