.pyc files are created by the Python interpreter when a .py file is imported. They contain the "compiled bytecode" of the imported module/program so that the "translation" from source code to bytecode (which only needs to be done once) can be skipped on subsequent imports if the .pyc is newer than the corresponding .py file, thus speeding startup a little. But it's still interpreted. Once the *.pyc file is generated, there is no need of *.py file, unless you edit it.
