The Motive Web Design Glossary
Moving Pictures Expert Group Layer 3 (MP3)
MP3 is a format for storing digital audio files. It uses an audio compression system that reduces file size by removing the frequencies of a track not audible to the human ear.
The format was developed in 1992 by Thomson Multimedia and Fraunhofer IIS-A.
This format has received a fair amount of media attention with applications such as Napster allowing users to search for MP3-encoded tracks stored on servers worldwide.
The MP3 format has led to new business models; with services such as Apples' iTunes and Warp Records' Bleep allowing users to purchase single tracks via the web.
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