mp3

[cliffsdoll]

what does mp3 actually stand for, thanks

[theo_wyvern]

it is actually just a file format such as .doc (Word) or .xls (Excel)

probably most popular use is 'MPEG Audio Stream, Layer III', MPEG is short for 'Moving Picture Experts Group'

[Greg.Dudley]

MP3 is an acronym for MPEG-1 or MPEG-2 audio layer 3. MP3 is the file extension for MPEGaudio layer 3. Layer 3 is one of three coding schemes (layer 1, layer 2 and layer 3) for the compression of audio signals. Layer 3 uses perceptual audio coding and psychoacoustic compression to remove all superfluous information (more specifically, the redundant and irrelevant parts of a sound signal. The stuff the human ear doesn't hear anyway). It also adds a MDCT (Modified Discrete Cosine Transform) that implements a filter bank, increasing the frequency resolution 18 times higher than that of layer 2.

i hope this isn't to precise