AfterDawn: News

Happy 10th Birthday to MP3!

Today we celebrate the invention of the so common audio format MP3 which already celebrates it's 10th birthday. As most of you probaply know, the file extension '.mp3' actually stands for files encoded to MPEG-1 Layer III standard format. The compression technology applied scientific advances of various fields: mathematics, psychology, acoustics, human anatomy, etc.

The researchers of Fraunhofer IIS did a bang-up job. Not only that they totally changed the business environment of the music industry, but the MP3 format has proven very well lasting and can still provide high quality compressed audio for years to come. Open sourced LAME MP3 Encoderis tweaked for maximum audio quality, and is very well able to challenge the newer audio formats such as the AAC.



The extension itself was decided by an internal poll at the Fraunhofer research center.

Date: Fri, 14 Jul 1995 12:29:49 +0200

Subject: Layer3 file extension: .mp3

Hi all,

this is the overwhelming result of our poll: everyone voted for .mp3 as extension for ISO MPEG Audio Layer 3! As a consequence, everyone please mind that for WWW pages, shareware, demos, and so on, the .bit extension is not to be used anymore. There is a reason for that, believe me :-)

Juergen Zeller

Source: eCoustics

Written by: Lasse Penttinen @ 13 Jul 2005 8:58

• Previous article

• Firefox browser updated to v1.0.5

• Next article

• Hillary Clinton to target Rockstar over San Andreas sex mod

• 8 comments

• solargame

  i love mp3 but when you buy an mp3 player it says like 1000 songs in mp3 and 2000 songs in wma, is wma a better compression format?

  13.7.2005 09:40 #1

• Rikoshay

  They probably said that so more people would create more .wma files so Microsoft could get more support for future products. If the bitrate is the same, the amount is the same, unless the songs are of different lengths. I personally think the .wma format sucks; it just copies the .mp3 algorithm, but makes it sound too crispy and crackly when set to lower bitrates (like lower than 80kbps). It's like they want to get back at someone, kind of like how DivX took their MPEG-4 technology and made it better ;)
  I just stick to MP3s for now, but hopefully Sony will release a PC player or codec that plays ATRAC3+, now that is a good format. It sounds just as good as CD quality at 64kbps! See ya.

  13.7.2005 11:45 #2

• climbhigh

  If only the creator new the controversy it would bring 10 years ago..

  13.7.2005 14:02 #3

• chesty

  I love this format.
  
  This format is not copy protected like the wma format.
  
  t can be formatted in either stereo or mono with a sampling frequency from 8000 hz to 48000 hz with encoding rate from 32 kps to 320 kps.
  
  When the music with this format is encoded with an encoding rate above 192 kps i can't tell the differance between that and a full sized wave file.
  
  I have mp3 ripping programs by Nero and ulead where i can put over thirty albums on a DVD where the music is encoded at 320 kps in mono or stereo.
  
  GREAT FORMAT !!!!!!!!!!

  13.7.2005 16:59 #4

• chesty

  I love this format.
  
  This format is not copy protected like the wma format.
  
  It can be formatted in either stereo or mono with a sampling frequency from 8000 hz to 48000 hz with encoding rate from 32 kps to 320 kps.
  
  When the music with this format is encoded with an encoding rate above 192 kps i can't tell the differance between that and a full sized wave file.
  
  I have mp3 ripping programs by Nero and ulead where i can put over thirty albums on a DVD where the music is encoded at 320 kps in mono or stereo.
  
  GREAT FORMAT !!!!!!!!!!

  13.7.2005 16:59 #5

• mayg27

  To the creators and developers of MP3 and all its
  versions, A Heartfelt THANK YOU to you all, and
  Happy 10th Anniversary, May you have a thousand more
  Anniversaries to come!

  13.7.2005 19:02 #6

• nonoitall

  The format definitely revolutionized digital music and is still my format of choice due to high compatibility. IMO, WMA is slightly better, but it still gets beat by plenty others, plus I'm not much of a Microsoft fan these days. If it weren't for the compatibility and commonality of MP3 I'd go for Ogg Vorbis myself (love open source/free).

  13.7.2005 23:36 #7

• solargame

  thats why they call it MP3 Players, no one will call them WMA Players.

  14.7.2005 06:25 #8