Does Zero Padding Distort the Spectrum of a Signal?

No: zero padding is equivalent to correlating with neighboring, non-integer frequencies; there is no "distortion" here, the coefficients describe exactly what they intend to.

1. What is the effect of zero padding?
2. Does zero padding reduce spectral leakage?
3. Does zero padding affect FFT?
4. Why do we use zero padding in circular convolution?

What is the effect of zero padding?

Zero padding enables you to obtain more accurate amplitude estimates of resolvable signal components. On the other hand, zero padding does not improve the spectral (frequency) resolution of the DFT. The resolution is determined by the number of samples and the sample rate.

Does zero padding reduce spectral leakage?

Zero-padding a signal does not reveal more information about the spectrum, but it only interpolates between the frequency bins that would occur when no zero-padding is applied. In particular, zero-padding does not increase the spectral resolution.

Does zero padding affect FFT?

Zero padding allows one to use a longer FFT, which will produce a longer FFT result vector. A longer FFT result has more frequency bins that are more closely spaced in frequency.

Why do we use zero padding in circular convolution?

The method of extending signals by adding zeros is known as zero padding . If three zeros are added to each of the signals and then a circular convolution is performed, the result is the same as that of a linear convolution.