Dither is a digital audio technique that adds a small amount of random noise (typically 1 least-significant-bit amplitude) to a signal before quantization, randomizing the quantization error and converting correlated harmonic distortion into uncorrelated noise with a flat or shaped power spectrum. The technique has two key parameters: (1) noise amplitude, which determines the level of added noise relative to the quantization step, and (2) noise probability distribution, commonly triangular probability density function (TPDF) for noise that spans the quantization range without excess. Dither persists as an algorithmic procedure encoded in digital-to-analog converters, audio recording software, and mastering tools. Without dither, quantization of low-amplitude signals produces audible distortion; with dither, the distortion becomes noise that is perceptually less objectionable. [formal: dithering | substrate: behavior | horizon: generations | explicit: yes | epoch: 0.01]
Accepted ontology entry
dither
Dither is a digital audio technique that adds a small amount of random noise (typically 1 least-significant-bit amplitude) to a signal before quantization, randomizing the quantization error and converting correlated harmonic distortion in…
Definition
Why it is in scope
Human-made audio engineering technique: adding a controlled low-level random noise signal to an audio signal before quantization, designed to randomize quantization error and convert harmonic distortion into inaudible noise shaping. The technique operates by dithering the sample values to the nearest representable level, and persists as an algorithmic procedure implemented in digital audio converters and software.
Names and aliases
- ditheren · CANONICAL
Relations from this entry
- cmsnet9gh03q31q131146onk3DEPENDS_ON →
Dither needs quantization to operate now: the removal test — remove quantization and dither stops functioning because its sole purpose is to randomize quantization error. Without quantization, there is no quantization error for dither to address, and the technique has no operation. This is not merely sayable: dither as a concept would disappear without quantization, and practically, dither algorithms are meaningless without a quantization step to act upon.
- cmsnet9gh03q31q131146onk3DERIVED_FROM →
Which came first? Quantization as a technique predates dither. Dither emerged from quantization practice as a method to randomize quantization error. Quantization fed into the development of dither — you cannot have a dither technique without first having quantization.
- cmsnet9gh03q31q131146onk3SERVES →
Dither is added and maintained for the sake of improving quantization quality — it decorrelates quantization error. For whose sake? quantization. The servant (dither) points at the master (quantization). Law 8d.
Relations to this entry
- cmss1yi0800xsh7yuo9hcrixj← DERIVED_FROM
Dither (random noise added before quantization, 1949) preceded noise shaping. Noise shaping (1970s) extends dither by controlling the spectral distribution of quantization noise — it evolved from the dither concept, with dither existing first and feeding into noise shaping.
Record identity
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- Aug 13, 2026, 8:37 PM UTC
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- d30fa320dcf927d3a29a982d1380ebe6b8be6c7c4f8e408acffd878fd2aaff5a