A voice compression technique that encodes analog voice signals based on a series of samples represented as a bit string, which is termed a vector.The vector is compared to a set of standard vectors stored in a codebook, the standard vector closest to the actual is selected, and an abbreviated identifier (i.e., code) is transmitted to the target station.VQC supports high-quality voice at rates of 32 kbps and 16 kbps, compression ratios of 2:1 and 4:1 as compared to pulse code modulation (PCM).VQC also does a good job of supporting modem transmission at speeds up to 9600 bps.VQC is an early form of code-excited linear prediction (CELP), which is now a dominant compression mechanism in packet voice applications such as voice over Internet protocol (VoIP). See also analog, CELP, compression, encode, HCV, modem, PCM, quantize, vector, and VoIP.