Date First Published: 17th September 2023
Topic: Computer Systems
Subtopic: Computer Hardware
Article Type: Computer Terms & Definitions
Difficulty: MediumDifficulty Level: 4/10
Learn about what MP3 is in this article.
MP3 is a widely used compressed file format that can store high-quality audio. It can also be used to store other data, including metadata, the song title, artist name, album title, and year. A header, metadata, and compressed audio are all parts of an MP3 file. The header contains details about the audio, such as the bitrate, sample rate, and the encoding version.
MP3 files are often about 10% of the size of an uncompressed WAVE or AIFF file, which have the same audio quality as a CD. The small file size is what led to MP3 becoming a popular format for digital music sharing. Since MP3 is a lossy format, it is less suitable for archive or audio editing purposes. Instead, a lossless format, like WAVE is more suitable.
Due to its compatibility with protocols, HTML5, user devices, and programs, as well as its relatively high audio quality after compression, MP3 is an ideal multimedia format for sharing audio files online and playing them. An MP3 file can be played on almost any current device.
There is often an MP3 player built into computers and smartphones, as well as additional software, like iTunes, that can play and organise MP3 files. MP3 files that have been written to a CD can typically be read by and played on CD players. Most modern entertainment systems can also play MP3 files from a CD or USB drive.
MP3 is a widely compatible format with most audio players. Windows and MacOS come with a built-in media player, including Microsoft Windows Media Player and Apple Music. MP3 files can also be opened with other media players, including VLC Media Player, which is compatible with both Windows and macOS and Olimsoft OPlayer, which is compatible with Android.
Most audio editors and media players, including VLC Media Player can also convert MP3 files to other formats, including .AIFF, .WAV, .OGG, .M4A, and more.
The main difference between MP3 and MP4 is that MP3 is only used for audio files and MP4 is a newer file format used for different types of media, including audio, image, video, and text.
The MP3 format was developed in the early 1990s and officially released in 1993 by MPEG. At that time, the computer hard drives had much more limited storage space, so compression was important.
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