Why do videos from the early internet have such weird audio quality?

Question

Why is it that some media (early Homestar Runner, most Neopets stuff, the old BIC games, etc.) have such weird audio? I can’t really explain it but it’s like sort of echoed, kind of muted and super sharp at the same time, and sort of digitized.

In: Technology

Answer 1

Bad, early file compression algorithms.

Back in the day average internet speeds were very slow compared to today, and the need for small file sizes combined with early compression algorithms, leading to a serious loss of detail.