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Because of online file sharing and music downloads, the sheer size of the WAV digital audio format has made it
less popular. The compressed MP3 audio file has largely taken its place. MP3 audio files is termed a
"lossy" format because when the file is compressed, usually from a lossless file like a professionally
recorded CD or WAV file, some of the audio data is lost. The expression MP3 stands for the term
MPEG-1 Audio Layer 3 (.mp3). These files are almost twelve times smaller than a WAV file, so
hundreds of songs can be stored on a small amount of disk space. There will be little detectable
change in sound quality when an MP3 recording is played back. The invention of the MP3 file was and international effort. It was developed by a team of European engineers at Philips, CCETT (Centre commun d'études de télévision et télécommunications), IRT and Fraunhofer Society, who worked in the framework of the EUREKA 147 DAB digital radio research program, and it became an ISO/IEC standard audio file in 1991. The MP3 file is similiar to the JPEG photographic file in that it removes certain sounds which can't be heard by the music listener because they are outside the normal human range of sound. The MP3 is specific to digital audio files and is not capable of other formats. |