To quantize an analog signal is to divide its continuous voltage or current range into specific, distinct steps. When an analog-to-digital converter samples a signal, it rounds the exact measured amplitude to the nearest available digital value. This rounding introduces a small amount of error known as quantization noise, which designers minimize by increasing the bit depth of the converter.
If we quantize this audio signal at 8 bits, the noise floor will be too high for the specification.
Related terms
Analog-to-digital converter
A mixed-signal circuit component that translates continuous physical voltages into discrete digital numbers.
ADC
An analog-to-digital converter transforms continuous physical signals into discrete digital numbers.
Dequantize
To map discrete digital values back into a continuous analog range.