What is MP3?

MP3, short form of MPEG-1 Audio Layer 3, is one of the most easily recognizable digital file formats. Although everybody undoubtedly knows that MP3 is associated in some way with music, very few people know what MP3 really is.

MP3 is basically a compression algorithm that creates a considerably reduced size of audio file. Audio data that exists as stereo CD recordings occupy enormous hard drive space. Before audio compression was developed, trading of audio files was considered impractical. MP3 however, enabled audio files to be compressed to almost one-tenth of their original size, at the same time they managed to retain the good quality of the audio. This meant that now people could download songs from the internet or upload it onto the internet easily. This of course did not go down very well with the established music industry, who came down heavily on several music distribution services including Napster.

A lot has changed since then and the music industry has, to a certain extent, accepted the MP3 phenomenon. Several internet sites, including Apple's iTunes now allow their customers to download any song they like for free.

How Does MP3 work?

MP3 throws away those frequencies that are beyond the hearing range of human beings. Though, this process tends to reduce the quality of the sound, the difference is very slight and goes unnoticed by most people. Those who want to improve the sound quality have the option of encoding the audio at a bit-rate that is higher than usual, but this would result in files that are larger and occupy more space.

The compact file size is the most attractive feature of the MP3 player. Audio files take up about 1/11th of the space taken up by original audio files. It is this small size that allows the songs to be distributed easily over the internet. Compact MP3 players that are sometimes as big as a cigarette lighter are capable of holding hundreds of songs and are the latest rage all over the world.

There are also other formats besides MP3 that can be used for compressing audio. However, these formats do not have universal support, which can make a big difference. One of the important factors to take into consideration when looking for a portable audio player is the types of files it is capable of handling.

Windows Media Audio (WMA) is the second in popularity after the MP3. Offered by Microsoft, the WMA format offers higher quality of audio at reduced bit rates. This means smaller-sized files, which is one of the reasons of its high popularity.

Apple iPod portable music players use the Advance Audio Coding (AAC) format, which allows up to 48 channels and is also better than MP3 at handling higher frequencies.

Ogg Vorbis, another format whose popularity is fast growing, is an open-source codec that has a better sound quality as that of MP3.