(1) Converting an audio CD from its native CD-DA format to MP3, AAC, FLAC or other compressed audio format. The term was coined with a counterculture inference, because many tech-savvy people loved the idea they were "ripping off" the music industry by making copyrighted works available in a compact format that could be quickly downloaded over the Internet. Ripping is also called "importing." See
CD-DA,
MP3,
AAC,
FLAC,
codec examples and
import.
(2) Decrypting a DVD movie and storing it on a storage drive. Ripping a DVD does not result in a smaller, compressed version of the original as it does with audio files. See
DeCSS.
(3) Converting an analog recording to a digital format. See
VHS ripping,
USB turntable and
cassette ripping.
(4) Using a raster image processor, which prepares a page for display or printing. See
RIP.