(1) In digital audio, converting a set of data streams representing discrete channels into a single stream that retains the capacity to be converted back to separate channels. A synonym for multiplexing. In Audio Converter Services and in audio file formats such as CAF, interleaving involves placing one sample from each channel in sequence such that a set of coincident samples, one from each channel represented in the data stream, appears in each frame. Compare deinterleaving. (2) In QuickTime, a technique in which sound and video data are alternated in small pieces, so the data can be read off disk as it is needed. Interleaving allows for movies of almost any length to have little delay on startup.