A discrete cosine transform (DCT) is a
Fourier-related transform similar to the
discrete Fourier transform (DFT), but using only
real numbers. DCTs are equivalent to DFTs of roughly twice the length, operating on real data with
even symmetry (since the Fourier transform of a real and even function is real and even), where in some variants the input and/or output data are shifted by half a sample. There are eight standard DCT variants, of which four are common.
See more at Wikipedia.org...