Muxing

Part of speech: noun, verb

Definitions

1. The process of combining multiple signals or data streams into one for transmission or storage
2. The method used in multimedia to package different types of content, such as audio, video, and subtitles, into a single file
3. A technique in communication that enhances efficiency by integrating various types of information into a unified format

Etymology: "Muxing" is a back-formation of sorts from "mux," itself a clipped form of "multiplex" or "multiplexer." The longer words come from Latin "multiplex," meaning "manifold" or "many-fold," built from "multus" (many) and "-plex," related to "plicare," to fold. Engineers in telecommunications used the full terms for decades to describe combining several signals onto one channel, and the shortened "mux" became the everyday working term in that field. In multimedia, the same logic applies in a new setting. A video file, its audio tracks, and its subtitles are separate streams that get interleaved into one container, such as an MP4 or MKV file, so that a player can read them together. The process of doing this is called muxing, and the reverse process of splitting the streams apart is demuxing.

Synonyms: multiplexing