Shorten (32-bit) is a WAV and audio file compression utility. Shorten fills the gap between general purpose compression utilities (such as ZIP and RAR), and other more complex digital audio compression technologies (such as MPEG). Shorten utilizes the "Lossless&quot\; and "Lossy&quot\; modes of operation. A Lossless decompressed file remains identical to its parent. Typically, a compression factor of 2:1 is obtained with 16-bit audio files. Lossy compression may be performed either in terms of an average number of bits-per-sample, or in terms of an acceptable signal to noise ratio. Good quality may be obtained with compression ratios from 3:1 to 5:1, making this method a good alternative to ADPCM.