A chunk is a fragment of information which is used in many multimedia

file formats A file format is a standard way that information is encoded for storage in a computer file. It specifies how bits are used to encode information in a digital storage medium. File formats may be either proprietary or free. Some file forma ...

, such as PNG,

IFF In logic and related fields such as mathematics and philosophy, "if and only if" (shortened as "iff") is a biconditional logical connective between statements, where either both statements are true or both are false. The connective is bicondi ...

, MP3 and

AVI Avi is a given name, usually masculine, often a diminutive of Avram, Avraham, etc. It is sometimes feminine and a diminutive of the Hebrew spelling of Abigail. People with the given name include: * Avi (born 1937), Newbery award-winning Americ ...

. Each chunk contains a header which indicates some parameters (e.g. the type of chunk, comments, size etc.). Following the header is a variable area containing data, which is decoded by the program from the parameters in the header. Chunks may also be fragments of information which are downloaded or managed by P2P programs. In distributed computing, a chunk is a set of data which is sent to a processor or one of the parts of a computer for processing.

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See also