MP3
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MP3 are computer files used to store sounds, usually music. MP3 files use less Hard Drive space than other kinds of files like WAV, for example.
The full name of the format is MPEG-1 Audio Layer 3. The format is a lossy compression format. This means that each time, something is compressed with it, some information is lost. This information can not be recovered. When encoding to MP3 (converting some audio data to it), the encoder is smart. The human ear can not hear certain sounds if they are masked by other sounds. This means that when encoding certain sound samples, some sounds can be left out (as they will not be heard). This makes it possible to compress audio by a factor of about 5, without noticeable change to the sound of the music.
Many people like to use MP3 files to copy music so they can listen to it on their computer. Record companies do not like it when people use the Internet to share these MP3 files with each other. They think it is a violation of their copyright. The record industries have a trade group called the RIAA that has taken people to court for sharing music. An Internet website called Napster was shut down because of this. Napster has since re-opened, but does not let people share MP3 files anymore.
Other formats for audio compression are Ogg Vorbis, and FLAC. Ogg Vorbis is very simpilar to MP3. FLAC is a lossless compression (meaning no information is lost), and gets compression rates of 2-3.
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