Say goodbye to the MP3: Format is officially 'killed off'

[wvwvw]

Format is officially 'killed off' after founders terminate its licensing programme

The Munich-based Fraunhofer Institute has officially terminated its licensing programme for certain MP3-related patents in a move dubbed the 'official death warrant' of the format

The MP3 file changed the way music was listened to forever as the world shifted from bulky CD Walkmans to compact digital music players.

But the digital audio format has now been killed off by the company that invented it.
The Fraunhofer Institute has officially terminated its licensing programme for certain MP3-related patents.

The move has been dubbed the 'official death warrant' of the MP3 by tech experts.

It signifies a shift in the digital audio industry toward better quality formats such as AAC (Advanced Audio Coding) and FLAC (Free Lossless Audio Codec).

These offer better compression and more functionality than the outdated MP3.

The format has been credited for triggering a major shift in the music industry toward digital files.

It was among the first widely used format to allow digital audio to be compressed without significantly impacting the quality of sound.

But those still listening to their old MP3s shouldn't panic - the move by the Fraunhofer Institute is mostly symbolic.

Music listeners today are less likely to store their entire music library on their devices.
This means memory-saving MP3s - which sacrifice sound quality compared to other formats - are being left behind.
'Although there are more efficient audio codecs with advanced features available today, MP3 is still very popular amongst consumers,' the Fraunhofer Institute said in a statement.

'However, most state-of-the-art media services such as streaming or TV and radio broadcasting use modern ISO-MPEG codecs, such as the AAC [Advanced Audio Coding] family or in the future MPEG-H.'

Fraunhofer Institute for Integrated Circuits, which is a division of a German research institution that contributed to the development of MP3 in the late 1980s, helped create AAC.

It said AAC was now the 'de facto standard for music download and videos on mobile phones'.

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[Sacrificed Ram]

Say it for chineses...

AAC is long time a better sound compressor/format and almost any device can play them, the use of MP3 is just a vicious habit/custom.