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Fraunhofer IIS: Happy Birthday MP3!

Posted by Sachin Garg on 13th July 2005 | Permanent Link

On July 14th, the name “MP3″ celebrates its tenth anniversary. On this day back in 1995, the researchers at Fraunhofer Institute for Integrated Circuits IIS decided to use “.mp3″ as the file name extension for their new audio coding technology. Soon MP3 became the generally accepted acronym for the ISO standard IS 11172-3 “MPEG Audio Layer 3″.

.mp3 emerged as the unanimous winner of an internal poll at Fraunhofer IIS. In an email dated July 14th 1995, the new file extension was proclaimed:

Date: Fri, 14 Jul 1995 12:29:49 +0200
Subject: Layer3 file extension: .mp3

Hi all,

this is the overwhelming result of our poll: everyone voted for .mp3 as extension for ISO MPEG Audio Layer 3! As a consequence, everyone please mind that for WWW pages, shareware, demos, and so on, the .bit extension is not to be used anymore. There is a reason for that, believe me :-)

Juergen Zeller

(translated from German)

This naming can be seen as the conclusion of years of research and development in a team of up to 40 engineers. The format’s international standardization in 1992 ensured worldwide compatibility - this fact and the public MP3 source code guarantee that billions of existing MP3 files can still be played by generations of audiophiles to come.

In 1987, the Fraunhofer IIS started to work on perceptual audio coding in the framework of the EUREKA project EU147, Digital Audio Broadcasting (DAB). In a joint cooperation with the University of Erlangen (Prof. Dieter Seitzer), the Fraunhofer IIS finally devised a very powerful algorithm that is standardized as ISO-MPEG Audio Layer-3 (IS 11172-3 and IS 13818-3).

In 1992 MP3 was in fact so far ahead of its times, that the industry considered the technology far too complex for practical application. It turned out, however, that its development was the bottom line advancement in audio coding - no other coding method so far could uncrown MP3 as the standard for digital music on the computer and on the Internet.

20 Responses to “Fraunhofer IIS: Happy Birthday MP3!”

  1. HTNet Says:

    Happy Birthday MP3!

    Believe it or not, the popular MP3 audio compression format is now celebrating its 10th birthday. After all this time, it is still the undisputed king of digital music format, even with the advent of rival formats such as WMA, Ogg Vorbis and Real Audio…

  2. Alidrus2000 Says:

    Happy 10th birthday mp3! Hope your patent expires very soon ;)

  3. Kaustav Ghoshal Says:

    This is a classic example of a revolution.Mp3 is here today all around.Could anyone foresee this revolution 10 years back?

  4. Radio Free Internet » Happy Birthday, Old Friend Says:

    [...] s he’s hit the big one-oh. Slashdot reports: “The Data Compression News Blog reports that on July 14th 2005, the name “MP3″ celebrates its tenth anniversary. On [...]

  5. WiRED.Pod » Blog Archive » Mp3 Extension Celebrate Its 10th Anniversary Says:

    [...] 4th July, 2005. View the original Mp3 team members here. WiRED Buzz: English Translated: Mp3 article Fraunhofer Institute for Integrated Circuits IIS (in German): Mp3 article tags: mp3, events

    [...]

  6. Denken Über » 10 años de MP3 Says:

    [...] 3″ llegó a nuestros oídos, y comenzó una revolución que nadie vió venir. De hecho, según TDCB cuando estaban trabajando en la creación de la tecnología la “indust [...]

  7. There4 Inc - My Little Window to the World » MP3 Celebrates its Tenth Anniversary Says:

    [...] nth Anniversary Posted in News at 11:19 am by joe The Data Compression News Blog reports that on July 14th 2005, the name “MP3″ celebrates its tenth anniversary. On this day back in [...]

  8. OneJosh Says:

    Why did they make sure no-one used .bit, obvisouly mp3 sounds better and is more descriptive, but they were very forceful about it.

  9. Edward Behan Says:

    happybirthday.mp3 ! :-)

  10. Mare Nubium » 10 años de MP3 Says:

    [...] sted by ahc under Informática  Acabo de leer en Slashdot que hace hoy 10 años se bautizó como MP3 al formato de compresión de audio que estaba desarrollando el Instituto Fraunhofer, y que has [...]

  11. thaJack dot com Says:

    Happy Birthday MP3!

    The name “MP3″ celebrates its 10th birthday today.
    On this day back in 1995, the researchers at Fraunhofer Institute for Integrated Circuits IIS decided to use “.mp3″ as the file name extension for their new audio coding technology. …

  12. 45RPM » Happy Birthday MP3! Says:

    [...] w”>

    Happy Birthday MP3!
    Thursday 14 July 2005 @ 5:12 pm

    It was ten years ago today that our best friend, the mp3, was born. Don’t believe me? Here’s the ema [...]

  13. Martin O Says:

    Happy Cumpleaños MP3!!

    I don’t know to this day how I feel about the mp3. Before mp3, I bought music every week, I have over 1000 lp’s alone, not to mention a hefty amount of cd’d to boot - Purchased over nearly 17 years.

    Since the advent of the cursed mp3, my music collection is just ridiculous, one thousand cd-r’s, holding approximately 165 songs each. ( this in just three years) WTF, that just ain’t normal. - And that, BTW, is not even mentioning the insane amount of dvd-r’s holding, who the hell knows how many mp3’s.

    Today, I walked up Broadway in lower Manhattan, and was NOT surprised by yet another music store going out of business. A bit sad, I think.

    As far as I-Pods go, I don’t own one for the simple reason that an mp3 player does not leave a trace of the music after you change your play list. I will always burn a mixed cd, and that is that. And I do recommend buying archival grade blank cd-r’s, for the kids you know.

    Martin

  14. jinkies.org » Blog Archive » 10 years, man! Says:

    [...] n! To quote Jeremy Piven in Grosse Pointed Blank, TEN YEARS! Ten years! Happy birthday to mp3! You’ve been a fabulous file extension, and I’ve en [...]

  15. - [ UU-DOT ] - Voor gevorderden! » Blog Archive » Audiocompressie voor gevorderden Says:

    [...] or gevorderden Er is er één jarig, hoera, hoera, dat kun je wel zien dat is de .mp3 extensie! Zij leve lang…. (bis) This entry was posted [...]

  16. tomaz Says:

    I love mp3’s.All my shit is stolen mp3 music now!

  17. ixat Says:

    MP3’s… the joy of my life. Or, in any case, 45 back-to-back days’ worth of my life, so far! :D

  18. Lawsy.net » Josh, MP3 and Cones Says:

    [...] Its MP3s 10th birthday today, july 14th. [...]

  19. After JPEG, now MP3 in Patent Mess - The Data Compression News Blog - c10n.info Says:

    [...] was never patent free, with its inventor, Germany’s Fraunhofer institute known as ‘the industry-recognised rightful [...]

  20. Under The Microscope » Blog Archive » A Decade Of MP3 Says:

    [...] From The Data Compression News Blog by way of Slashdot: 10 years of MP3. [...]

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