The ITU-T companding standard used in the conversion between analog and digital signals in PCM systems. A-law is used primarily in European telephone networks and is similar to the North American mu-law standard. See also companding and mu-law.

See a-law algorithm.

The ITU standard for analog to digital audio data conversion using PCM coding and companding. The A-Law technique is used throughout Europe and has a more constant "signal-to-quantizing" noi [..]

An A-law algorithm is a complex algorithm used in audio processing, and in digitizing analog signals. Its use in European engineering is contrasted with the mu-law algorithms used in American and Japa [..]

A standard compression algorithm, used in digital communications systems of the European digital hierarchy, to optimize, i.e., modify, the dynamic range of an analog signal for digitizing. The wide dynamic range of speech does not lend itself well to efficient linear digital encoding. A-law encoding effectively reduces the dynamic range of the sign [..]