prayas
Tape Ball Captain
- Joined
- Nov 7, 2013
- Runs
- 1,115
When it was introduced in the late 1990s, the MP3—a then-novel digital audio coding format—shattered the dominance of physical CDs. It reduced audio file sizes by as much as 95%, suddenly allowing listeners to carry a massive amount of music around on tiny pocket-sized devices.
But in the 2000s, as is often the case in music, the MP3 was slowly usurped by newer, more powerful formats, which are now used almost ubiquitously by streaming services and other modern music platforms. After nearly two decades, the Fraunhofer Institute for Integrated Circuits, the German research body that owns the rights to MP3, has decided to no longer renew its patents on the technology—effectively killing the format for good. Said Fraunhofer in a succinct press release:
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. Those can deliver more features and a higher audio quality at much lower bitrates compared to MP3.
That the patents expired a month ago with hardly any media attention is just a sign of how far the MP3 has fallen. It was once hailed as revolutionary, and now is barely given a second glance.
https://qz.com/983934/say-goodbye-to-the-iconic-mp3/?_e_pi_=7,PAGE_ID10,1196752652
But in the 2000s, as is often the case in music, the MP3 was slowly usurped by newer, more powerful formats, which are now used almost ubiquitously by streaming services and other modern music platforms. After nearly two decades, the Fraunhofer Institute for Integrated Circuits, the German research body that owns the rights to MP3, has decided to no longer renew its patents on the technology—effectively killing the format for good. Said Fraunhofer in a succinct press release:
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. Those can deliver more features and a higher audio quality at much lower bitrates compared to MP3.
That the patents expired a month ago with hardly any media attention is just a sign of how far the MP3 has fallen. It was once hailed as revolutionary, and now is barely given a second glance.
https://qz.com/983934/say-goodbye-to-the-iconic-mp3/?_e_pi_=7,PAGE_ID10,1196752652
