The end of an era MP3?

Recently from the developers of the most popular audio format MP3 — Institute integrated circuits Fraunhofer society (Fraunhofer IIS, Germany) has received an official notice of termination of technical support and development of the format in connection with the final expiration of all license agreements. After the end of the license period, the Institute ceases to receive licensing fees from manufacturers of electronic devices and software developers. Receiver MP3 announced standard AAS developed at the same Institute in 1997.

However, at the moment the MP3 format remains the most popular sound format. At the same time, the cessation of collection of license fees and the opening of all codes can even lead to some growth of its popularity. The first rumors about the “death” of popular format was introduced a few years ago, when the term of a patent for the use of the format. And at the end of April 2017 was completed the patent for an encoding that allows you not only to use the format but also to create devices based on it.

Invented in 1993, audio format MP3 (MPEG-1 Audio Layer 3) may be replaced with AAC, which, for example Apple uses on their devices since 2003, and later MPEG-H. the Main advantage of the new format AAS is the presence of a larger number of channels of audio (AAC 48 and MP3 to 8) and two times higher sampling frequency. These figures lead to higher sound quality at lower bitrates.

However, the rush to “bury” the old format is not necessary, because we all remember how long remain popular audio tapes and vinyl discs continue to enjoy high popularity among the music lovers. The lack of apparent deficiencies in MP3 and high popularity among users and manufacturers can significantly extend the life of old, but quite effective tool.

Source: Fraunhofer IIS