Website Builders.com

  • Home
  • Builder Reviews
        • Our team have carefully reviewed a selection of premium website building platform, making it easier for you to choose the right one.

          While most website builders are compatible for generic  website building, including online stores, blogs and generic websites, some are better than others depending on what your website type.

        • Website Builder Reviews

          GoDaddy

          IM Creator

          Jimdo

          Squarespace

          Voog

          Weebly

          Wix

          WordPress

        • Store Builder Reviews

          BigCommerce

          GoDaddy Store

          Shopify

          Weebly

          Wix

          Yola

        • Comparisons

          Wix vs. Weebly

          Shopify vs. BigCommerce

  • Start A Blog
  • How To Guides
        • With over 500 pages of detailed tutorials and guides, our guides cover a large chunk of online topics.

          Learn crafty tips and tricks to make your time online smooth. Our directory is useful for internet newbies, as well as aspiring website builders.

          Check out the full directory.

        • Building a Website

          How To Build a Website

          Name Your Website – Domain

          Picking a Web Hosting Service

          Content and User Experience

          More

        • Searching and Research

          Searching the Web

          Doing Research Online

          The World of Wiki

          Finding Videos Online

          More

        • E-mails – Basics and Advanced

          Getting Started

          Sending an E-mail Message

          Opening Attachments

          Sending Attachments

          More

        • Social Media & Communication

          Instant Messaging

          Online Networking

          Facebook

          LinkedIn

          More

        • Files, Downloads, Software & Installs

          File Formats and Extensions

          Install Plug-Ins

          How to Download Files

          Downloading Software

          More

        • Making Money Online

          Making Money with Facebook

          Affiliate Marketing

          Virtual Assistant

          Writing Articles

          More

        • Online Shopping

          10 Tips for Smart and Safe Shopping

          Smart Shopping

          Protecting Personal Information

          Looking for Discounts

          More

  • Website Builder Tools Your Business Can’t Do Without (+ Links To Useful Resources)
    • HTML Character Codes
    • Advertiser Tracking Cookies: There ARE Ways To Opt Out – Here’s How
    • Website Glossary
  • Our Blog
        • Recent Posts

          When you have awesome writers, it is easy to spread wisdom. Take a look at some of our recent posts on various internet and website related topics.

          Have any suggestions on topics? Don’t hold back, send us your ideas:

          [email protected]

        • 12 Simple Rules on How to Use E-mail Politely

          Live Chat Software: Is it Worth It? Facebook Says Yes.

          Algorithmic Warfare: Is it the Beginning or the End?

          How to Promote Your Pet Business Online

          DIY Marketing: 7 Steps for any Business Owner

        • 20 Ideas to Generate Your First Online Sale

          Complete Guide to Content Marketing

          8 Best Free Photo Editors for Product Photosraphy

          Press Kits: DIY to Free Media Hype

          Why Backlinks are Essential for SEO – How To Build Them

  • About Us
    • Contact Us
    • FAQ
    • How Did You Make This Site?
    • How the Website Is Funded
    • Our Team
You are here: Home / The Complete List Of How-To Tutorials For Internet Dummies / The Interactive Glossary: Defining the Net / MP3 Definition | The Interactive Glossary

MP3 Definition | The Interactive Glossary

Disclosure: Your support helps keep the site running! We earn a referral fee for some of the services we recommend on this page. Learn more

Contents

  • 1 MP3
    • 1.1 What does it mean that MP3 is a lossy format?
    • 1.2 What was the original intended purpose of the MP3 format?
  • 2 Glossary Index

MP3

MP3 is an audio file format commonly used for audio file storage, distribution, streaming, and playback on personal digital audio players known as MP3 players.

The MP3 file format is a shortened version of the full name: MPEG-1 or 2 Audio Layer III. MP3 is a lossy file format that is a popular choice for audio files that will be streamed online, copied to a media player (MP3 player), or shared over the Internet.

The MP3 format was originally released publicly in 1993, with updates in 1995 and 1998. During the second half of the 1990s, MP3’s became a popular format for storage of audio files on a computer hard drive and distribution of audio files over the Internet. In particular, the MP3 rapidly gained popularity, or notoriety depending on who you ask, as a format that was ideally suited to sharing over the Internet, either at download sites or over peer-to-peer file sharing networks.

Portable digital audio players called MP3 players came on the market in 1998 despite opposition by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) over concerns that availability of these devices would encourage music piracy and negatively affect record sales – an all-too-accurate prediction. Peer-to-peer sharing networks such as Napster began to pop up beginning in 1999 and enabled widespread sharing of copyrighted audio content which could be easily played from any computer or copied to a portable MP3 Player.

Mainstream peer-to-peer networks that enabled illegal music sharing have been largely forced out of operation through legal action and have been replaced by authorized services which sell downloadable audio files or offer streaming audio content.

What does it mean that MP3 is a lossy format?

The MP3 format is designed to require significantly less space than a CD file. An MP3 file compressed at a sampling rate of 128 kilobits per second (kbps) will require less than 10% the disc space of the same uncompressed file on a CD. This is because the sampling rate of a CD recording is approximately 1.4 Mbps (1,400 kbps).

MP3s accomplish this massive reduction in disc space by reducing the reproduction of sounds that are outside the hearing range of most people. While 128 kbps is the most common sampling rate for an MP3, other rates can also be used. Higher rates will produce a higher-quality recording, but also require more disc space, while lower quality rates will require less disk space but sacrifice sound quality in the process.

What was the original intended purpose of the MP3 format?

When the MP3 format was developed in the early 1990s the average computer hard drive was only 500 MB to 1 GB. This means that copying CD-quality audio files to a computer hard drive was a virtual non-starter due to a lack of available storage space. The answer was to find a way to compress the audio files while preserving the quality of the audio to a level that most people would find undiscernable when compared to the original recording. The MP3 format accomplished this. It allowed compression of audio files to less than 10% their original size while preserving the quality of the recording.

The MP3’s adoption as a file format ideally suited to music piracy was an unintended consequence of the technology.


Glossary Index

A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z

Latest Posts

Hosting

Black Friday 2023: Website Builder & Web Hosting Deals For Webmasters [Updated]

Uncategorized

Why WebsiteBuilders.com Got Hacked (Yes, You Can Blame Social Warfare)

E-mail Internet

E-Mail Etiquette: 12 Basic Rules For Politely Using E-Mail

Marketing social networking

Live Chat Software: Should You Invest In It? (It’s Easier Than You Think)

Computer Science

Never Heard Of Algorithmic Warfare? Then You’d Better Read This

Marketing

How To Successfully Promote Your Pet Business Online With Minimum Effort

Most Popular Reviews

  • Website Builder Reviews
  • Wix
  • Weebly
  • Squarespace
  • GoDaddy Website Builder
  • Shopify

Recent Posts

  • Black Friday 2023: Website Builder & Web Hosting Deals For Webmasters [Updated] November 5, 2019
  • Why WebsiteBuilders.com Got Hacked (Yes, You Can Blame Social Warfare) March 23, 2019
  • E-Mail Etiquette: 12 Basic Rules For Politely Using E-Mail November 15, 2017

About WebsiteBuilders.com

Everything you need to know about the WebsiteBuilders.com team.

About Us

Our Team

How The Website Is Funded

Privacy Policy

© 2017-2022 Website Builders.com | Sitemap