Why does downsampling cause aliasing?
If a discrete-time signal's baseband spectral support is not limited to an interval of width 2 π / M radians, downsampling by M results in aliasing. Aliasing is the distortion that occurs when overlapping copies of the signal's spectrum are added together.
What is meant by downsampling?
(1) To make a digital audio signal smaller by lowering its sampling rate or sample size (bits per sample). Downsampling is done to decrease the bit rate when transmitting over a limited bandwidth or to convert to a more limited audio format. Contrast with upsample.