bitstarve

B3I1T1S1T1A1R1V4E1

verb

To cause something to have compression artifacts (esp. blocking) by using too small a bitrate.

Scrabble 14

Meanings

verbbitstarve (third-person singular simple present bitstarves, present participle bitstarving, simple past and past participle bitstarved)

present singular third person bitstarves · participle present bitstarving · participle past bitstarved · past bitstarved · alternative bit-starve

  1. transitivecomputingTo cause something to have compression artifacts (esp. blocking) by using too small a bitrate.

    This is why bit-starved transmission streams yield a very blocky appearance. They reveal the blocky structure because the fine detail is lost and that prevents the edges of the macroblocks from merging into one another perfectly.

    2005, Cliff Wootton, A Practical Guide to Video and Audio Compression: From Sprockets and Rasters to Macroblocks, Taylor & Francis, →ISBN, →LCCN, page 206
    1 more example

    I had Dish for years, ditched them when they couldn't get me HD equipment in a timely manner and insisted on charging me $3 if I didn't hook my equipment to a phone line. WTF! Went to Comcast, gave me a great deal. But, they got bought by TW, and I am not impressed so far, so when my smokin deal runs out, I will likely try DTV, though they bitstarve the shit out of their HD content, and I watch 90% HD.

    2006 November 24, Venger, “NFL turns back on 52 million cable viewers”, in alt.sports.football.pro.dallas-cowboys (Usenet)

Origin

Cite this entry
APA

bitstarve. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/bitstarve

MLA

“bitstarve.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/bitstarve. Accessed November 3, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “bitstarve,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/bitstarve.

Source: bitstarve on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.