MP3 (MPEG-1 Audio Layer III)

MP3 (MPEG-1 Audio Layer III) is a lossy audio format developed largely at the Fraunhofer Institute and standardised by MPEG in the early 1990s. It removes sounds that human hearing is unlikely to notice, shrinking files dramatically. Quality depends on the bitrate: higher bitrates sound closer to the original. Its patents have expired and virtually every player, car stereo and browser supports it.

Use MP3 when compatibility is the priority: podcasts, music for older devices, audio for websites or files you send to anyone. For archiving or editing, keep a lossless original such as WAV or FLAC, because each lossy re-encode adds artefacts.

Source formats: .mp3