What is MP3?
MP3 is a compression form (like .zip). The name MP3 stands for Mpeg 1 Audio Layer 3 and its
compression algorithm is based on a complicated psycho-acoustic model. This model is base
on the fact that the human ear cannot hear all the audio frequencies. The human hearing range in
between 20Hz to 20Khz and it is most sensitive between 2 to 4 KHz. This MP3 model among
other techniques tries to eliminate the frequencies which the human ear is unable to hear
keeping all the hearing frequencies leaving intact the hearing experience. As a result the MP3
compression form is destructive. That means that the compression algorithm causes the file to
lose some information so that it cannot be restored to its original content.
When compressing an audio file (encoding) using the MP3 algorithm you can set the desired
encoding level and have any compression level you want. The larger the compressed file the
better the audio quality of the result. The majority of the files available on the internet are
encoded in 128 kbits stereo 44khz which results to a high quality file that is 12 times smaller
than the original!! This of course has many interesting consequences. The main disadvantage of the MP3 format is that it needs to be decompressed when played.
That means that we need a computer to play them and that we cannot hear them in our ordinary home
stereo cd players. This is something that might be changed as many large hardware companies
are thinking to support MP3 format in their products. Diamond Multimedia has released a
portable device called Rio that can play MP3 files!
CLICK HERE to go back to the MP3 ZONE
