title: 32-bit to 16-bit Floating Point Conversion
body: <p>I need a cross-platform library/algorithm that will convert between 32-bit and 16-bit floating point numbers.  I don't need to perform math with the 16-bit numbers; I just need to decrease the size of the 32-bit floats so they can be sent over the network.  I am working in C++.</p>
  
  <p>I understand how much precision I would be losing, but that's OK for my application.</p>
  
  <p>The IEEE 16-bit format would be great.</p>