Implementation and optimization of a real-time PAC codec

The authors describe an implementation of the perceptual audio coding (PAC) audio compression algorithm on PowerPC hardware designed to support simultaneous real-time compression and decompression of audio for transmission over a network. They describe the algorithm variant used, the target hardware and software development tools, and then describe the various optimizations that reduced the complexity sufficiently to allow the algorithm to run in real-time. They conclude by describing a scheduling algorithm that allows them to manage the complexity associated with the compression of 'difficult' music.