MPEG-1 Layer III( MP3)

BY

Jalu Surendra
08BEC034

DEPARTMENT OF ELECTRONICS & COMMUNICATION

AHMEDABAD-382481

October 2010
 MPEG-1 Layer III( MP3)

Term Paper

Submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements

For the degree of

Bachelor of Technology in Electronics & Communication

By

Jalu Surendra
08BEC034

DEPARTMENT OF ELECTRONICS & COMMUNICATION

AHMEDABAD-382481

October 2010
 iii

Certificate

This is to certify that the Seminar entitled ”MPEG-1 Layer III( MP3)” submitted
by Jalu Surendra(08BEC034), towards the partial fulfillment of the requirements for
the degree of Bachelor of Technology in Electronics & Communication Engineering of
Nirma University of Science and Technology, Ahmedabad is the record of work carried
out by him under my supervision and guidance. In my opinion, the submitted work
has reached a level required for being accepted for examination. The results embodied
in this Seminar, to the best of my knowledge, haven’t been submitted to any other
university or institution for award of any degree or diploma.

Prof. N. P. Gajjar Prof. A. S. Ranade

Associate Professor, Professor and Head,
Dept. of Elect. & Comm. & Engg., Dept. of Elect. &Comm. & Engg.,
Institute of Technology, Institute of Technology,
Nirma University, Ahmedabad Nirma University, Ahmedabad
 iv

Acknowledgements

I would like to acknowledge and extend my heartfelt gratitude to following persons

who made the completion of this seminar presentation and report possible:

Prof. N. P. Gajjar for his invaluable technical support and guidance throughout
the completion of this seminar.

My batch mates for the help and inspiration they extended.

And, last but not the least to God almighty who made all this possible.

- JALU SURENDRA
08BEC034
Contents

Certificate iii

Acknowledgements iv

1 INTRODUCTION 2

2 HISTORY 4
2.1 Development: . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
2.2 Standardization: . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
2.3 Going Public: . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6

3 CURRENT TRENDS: 7

4 BASIC TECHNOLOGY: 9
4.1 Encoding Video: . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
4.2 Decoding Video: . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
4.3 Audio Quality: . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
4.4 Bit Rate: . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
4.5 VBR: . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
4.6 File Structure: . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13

5 MP3 FILE SHARING MARKET: 16

6 ADVANTAGES AND DISADVANTAGES: 18

v
CONTENTS 1

7 APPLICATION: 21

8 LIMITATION: 22

9 Future Scope 24

10 References 26
Chapter 1

INTRODUCTION

MPEG-1 or MPEG-2 Audio Layer 3(or III) more commonly referred to as MP3,is
a patented digital audio encoding format using a form of lossy data compression.It
is a common audio format for consumer audio storage,as well as a de facto stan-
dard of digital audio compression for the transfer and playback of music on digital
audio players.Standards are developed to allow different manufacturers to build and
sell compatible components(eg. FAX machines, televisions,compact discs, etc.)When
there is one standard,consumers are more willing to buy a product,as they have more
confidence that it will be supported over its lifetime by one or more companies.The
International Organization for Standardization(ISO) has developed a standard for
compressing high quality digital audio.Digital audio broadcast is a new technology
which is expected to replace the current mode of FM broadcast within the next
twenty years.It should allow radio stations to broadcast compact disc-quality audio
without any increase in power or bandwidth requirements. Development of a com-
pression standard is a prerequisite for the establishment of such a communication
system.In comparison with the compression of digital video,the compression of digi-
tal audio is relatively complex.First,the human ear has a sensitivity over a dynamic
range exceeding 100dB. The psychoacoustic models of the human auditory system are
nonlinear and complex.The quality of audio reproduction equipment has advanced to
the stage where even unsophisticated consumers have developed demanding tastes.In

2
CHAPTER 1. INTRODUCTION 3

contrast,the dynamic range and the resolution of television broadcasts are still far be-
low the capacities of the human visual system.The audio coding standard is a complex
coding scheme offering three layers of compression.Each of these layers may be viewed
as a distinct compression scheme with increasing complexity.The standard contains
provisions for coding stereo information,error protection, pre-emphasis, and ancillary
data.The standard begins with the layout of the bitstream for all three layers.This is
followed with an implementation of the decoder,the encoder for the three layers and
the two psychoacoustic models.The standard concludes with appendices discussing
diverse topics such as error concealment.
Chapter 2

HISTORY

2.1 Development:
The MP3 lossy audio data compression algorithm takes advantage of a perceptual
limitation of human hearing called auditory masking.In 1894, Alfred Marshall Mayer
reported that a tone could be rendered inaudible by another tone of lower frequency.
In 1959,Richard Ehmer described a complete set of auditory curves regarding this
phenomenon.Ernst Terhardt et al.created an algorithm describing auditory masking
with high accuracy.This work added to a variety of reports from authors dating back
to Fletcher,and to the work that initially determined critical ratios and critical band-
widths.

2.2 Standardization:
A working group consisting of Leon van de Kerkhof(The Netherlands),Gerhard Stoll(Germany),Leo
Chiariglione(Italy), Yves-Franois Dehery(France),Karlheinz Brandenburg(Germany)
and James D.Johnston(USA) took ideas from ASPEC(Adaptive Spectral Perceptual
Entropy Coding),integrated the filter bank from Layer 2,added some of their own
ideas and created MP3,which was designed to achieve the same quality at 128 kbit/s
as MP2 at 192 kbit/s. All algorithms for MPEG-1 Audio Layer I,II and III were

4
CHAPTER 2. HISTORY 5

approved in 1991 and finalized in 1992 as part of MPEG-1,the first standard suite by
MPEG,which resulted in the international standard ISO/IEC 11172-3(a.k.a. MPEG-
1 Audio or MPEG-1 Part 3), published in 1993.Further work on MPEG audio was
finalized in 1994 as part of the second suite of MPEG standards,MPEG-2,more for-
mally known as international standard ISO/IEC 13818-3(a.k.a. MPEG-2 Part 3 or
backwards compatible MPEG-2 Audio or MPEG-2 Audio BC),originally published in
1995.MPEG-2 Part 3(ISO/IEC 13818-3)defined additional bit rates and sample rates
for MPEG-1 Audio Layer I,II and III.The new sampling rates are exactly half that of
those originally defined for MPEG-1 Audio.MPEG-2 Part 3 also enhanced MPEG-
1’s audio by allowing the coding of audio programs with more than two channels,up
to 5.1 multichannel.There is also MPEG-2.5 audio,a proprietary unofficial extension
developed by Fraunhofer IIS.It enables MP3 to work satisfactorily at very low bi-
trates and added lower sampling frequencies.MPEG-2.5 was not developed by MPEG
and was never approved as an international standard. Compression efficiency of en-
coders is typically defined by the bit rate,because compression ratio depends on the
bit depth and sampling rate of the input signal.Nevertheless,compression ratios are
often published.They may use the Compact Disc(CD) parameters as references(44.1
kHz,2 channels at 16 bits per channel or 216 bit),or sometimes the Digital Audio Tape
(DAT)SP parameters (48 kHz, 216 bit).Compression ratios with this latter reference
are higher,which demonstrates the problem with use of the term compression ratio for
lossy encoders. Karlheinz Brandenburg used a CD recording of Suzanne Vega’s song
”Tom’s Diner” to assess and refine the MP3 compression algorithm.This song was
chosen because of its nearly monophonic nature and wide spectral content,making
it easier to hear imperfections in the compression format during playbacks.Some
jokingly refer to Suzanne Vega as ”The mother of MP3”.Some more critical audio
excerpts(glockenspiel, triangle, accordion, etc.)were taken from the EBU V3/SQAM
reference compact disc and have been used by professional sound engineers to as-
sess the subjective quality of the MPEG Audio formats.This particular track has
an interesting property in that the two channels are almost,but not completely,the
CHAPTER 2. HISTORY 6

same,leading to a case where Binaural Masking Level Depression causes spatial un-
masking of noise artifacts unless the encoder properly recognizes the situation and
applies corrections similar to those detailed in the MPEG-2 AAC psychoacoustic
model.

2.3 Going Public:

A reference simulation software implementation, written in the C language and later
known as ISO 11172-5, was developed(in 1991-1996)by the members of the ISO MPEG
Audio committee in order to produce bit compliant MPEG Audio files(Layer 1, Layer
2, Layer 3).It was approved as a committee draft of ISO/IEC technical report in
March 1994 and printed as document CD 11172-5 in April 1994.It was approved as a
draft technical report (DTR/DIS) in November 1994,finalized in 1996 and published
as international standard ISO/IEC TR 11172-5:1998 in 1998.The reference software
in C language was later published as a freely available ISO standard.Working in
non-real time on a number of operating systems,it was able to demonstrate the first
real time hardware decoding (DSP based) of compressed audio.Some other real time
implementation of MPEG Audio encoders were available for the purpose of digi-
tal broadcasting(radio DAB, television DVB)towards consumer receivers and set top
boxes. On July 7,1994,the Fraunhofer Society released the first software MP3 encoder
called l3enc.The filename extension .mp3 was chosen by the Fraunhofer team on July
14,1995(previously, the files had been named .bit).With the first real-time software
MP3 player Winplay3(released September 9, 1995)many people were able to encode
and play back MP3 files on their PCs.Because of the relatively small hard drives back
in that time ( 500-1000 MB) lossy compression was essential to store non-instrument
based(like tracker and MIDI)music for playback on computer.
Chapter 3

CURRENT TRENDS:

while the Internet is changing the whole world,the combination of the MP3 format
with the Internet is enabling powerful online distribution of music-revolutionizing
the music world.Online music distribution offers advantages to both artist and con-
sumer.As an artist,you can directly reach your fans over the Internet without paying
the hefty price that music distribution companies take.As a consumer,you can buy
precisely the songs that you want to listen to instead of an entire US $16.99 CD.In
addition,you can quickly locate the song that you want to hear,by using PlayList
software to organize your online music,rather than look for your CD in all the places
that you could have left it.Finally,you can listen to that song anywhere that there’s
a good network connection without having to bring your audio CD with you.With
these incentives,the music world is currently embroiled in fighting legal and technical
battles to make online music distribution a reality.
It all began with the new MP3 format.MP3 stands for ”MPEG 1,Audio Layer
3” and is the audio part of the video compression standard defined by the Mov-
ing Pictures Experts Group.MP3 can encode data at a wide range of bit rates.In
particular,for music,it achieves near-CD quality at 128 Kbps,or about 1 Mbyte per
minute,and most MP3s you’ll find will be encoded at this rate.The favourable trade-
off of an insignificant loss in quality for a large degree of compression, not to speak
of the growing capacity and decreasing prices of hard drives, enables online stor-

7
CHAPTER 3. CURRENT TRENDS: 8

age of CD-quality music. You can find more information about the MP3 standard
at www.mpeg.org. Adding to its popularity, MP3 is an open standard, allowing
the development of freeware,shareware, and commercial software.Using a PC with a
CD-ROM reader and a standard ”CD Ripper” program, you can quickly and eas-
ily make your own MP3s from CDs. In addition, you can legally download MP3s
from several sites, including www.goodnoise.com and www.mp3.com, for free or for
a fee.There are several options for playing MP3s. FreeAmp (www.freeamp.com)is
an open-source effort to build a free audio player. WinAmp (www.winamp.com)is
a popular shareware player. Also, at least two companies are marketing solid-state
MP3 portable players with the intention of making the MP3 format into a consumer
standard. Diamond Multimedia (www.diamondmm.com)offers the Rio, and Creative
Labs (www.creative.com)o ffers the Nomad. These players each hold about an hour
of MP3 songs and come with extensive utilities to let you make MP3s from your CDs.
You can find more information about MP3 players, encoders, utilities,and FAQs at
www.mp3.com.
Chapter 4

BASIC TECHNOLOGY:

4.1 Encoding Video:

The MPEG-1 standard does not include a precise specification for an MP3 encoder,
but does provide example psychoacoustic models, rate loop, and the like in the non-
normative part of the original standard. At present, these suggested implementations
are quite dated. Implementers of the standard were supposed to devise their own
algorithms suitable for removing parts of the information from the audio input. As
a result, there are many different MP3 encoders available, each producing files of
differing quality. Comparisons are widely available, so it is easy for a prospective user
of an encoder to research the best choice. It must be kept in mind that an encoder
that is proficient at encoding at higher bit rates (such as LAME) is not necessarily as
good at lower bit rates. During encoding, 576 time-domain samples are taken and are
transformed to 576 frequency-domain samples. If there is a transient, 192 samples
are taken instead of 576. This is done to limit the temporal spread of quantization
noise accompanying the transient.)

9
CHAPTER 4. BASIC TECHNOLOGY: 10

4.2 Decoding Video:

Decoding, on the other hand, is carefully defined in the standard. Most decoders
are ”bitstream compliant”, which means that the decompressed output - that they
produce from a given MP3 file - will be the same, within a specified degree of round-
ing tolerance, as the output specified mathematically in the ISO/IEC high standard
document (ISO/IEC 11172-3). Therefore, comparison of decoders is usually based
on how computationally efficient they are (i.e., how much memory or CPU time they
use in the decoding process).

4.3 Audio Quality:

When performing lossy audio encoding, such as creating an MP3 file, there is a trade-
off between the amount of space used and the sound quality of the result. Typically,
the creator is allowed to set a bit rate, which specifies how many kilobits the file may
use per second of audio. The higher the bit rate, the larger the compressed file will
be, and, generally, the closer it will sound to the original file. With too low a bit rate,
compression artifacts (i.e. sounds that were not present in the original recording)
may be audible in the reproduction. Some audio is hard to compress because of
its randomness and sharp attacks. When this type of audio is compressed, artifacts
such as ringing or pre-echo are usually heard. A sample of applause compressed with
a relatively low bit rate provides a good example of compression artifacts. Besides
the bit rate of an encoded piece of audio, the quality of MP3 files also depends on
the quality of the encoder itself, and the difficulty of the signal being encoded. As
the MP3 standard allows quite a bit of freedom with encoding algorithms, different
encoders may feature quite different quality, even with identical bit rates. As an
example, in a public listening test featuring two different MP3 encoders at about 128
kbit/s, one scored 3.66 on a 1-5 scale, while the other scored only 2.22. Quality is
dependent on the choice of encoder and encoding parameters. The simplest type of
CHAPTER 4. BASIC TECHNOLOGY: 11

MP3 file uses one bit rate for the entire file - this is known as Constant Bit Rate (CBR)
encoding. Using a constant bit rate makes encoding simpler and faster. However, it
is also possible to create files where the bit rate changes throughout the file. These
are known as Variable Bit Rate (VBR) files. The idea behind this is that, in any
piece of audio, some parts will be much easier to compress, such as silence or music
containing only a few instruments, while others will be more difficult to compress.
So, the overall quality of the file may be increased by using a lower bit rate for the
less complex passages and a higher one for the more complex parts. With some
encoders, it is possible to specify a given quality, and the encoder will vary the bit
rate accordingly. Users who know a particular ”quality setting” that is transparent
to their ears can use this value when encoding all of their music, and not need to
worry about performing personal listening tests on each piece of music to determine
the correct bit rate. Perceived quality can be influenced by listening environment
(ambient noise), listener attention, and listener training and in most cases by listener
audio equipment (such as sound cards, speakers and headphones). A test given to
new students by Stanford University Music Professor Jonathan Berger showed that
student preference for MP3 quality music has risen each year. Berger said the students
seem to prefer the ’sizzle’ sounds that MP3s bring to music.

4.4 Bit Rate:

Several bit rates are specified in the MPEG-1 Audio Layer III standard: 32, 40, 48,
56, 64, 80, 96, 112, 128, 160, 192, 224, 256 and 320 kbit/s, and the available sampling
frequencies are 32, 44.1 and 48 kHz. Additional extensions were defined in MPEG-2
Audio Layer III: bit rates 8, 16, 24, 32, 40, 48, 56, 64, 80, 96, 112, 128, 144, 160
kbit/s and sampling frequencies 16, 22.05 and 24 kHz. A sample rate of 44.1 kHz
is almost always used, because this is also used for CD audio, the main source used
for creating MP3 files. A greater variety of bit rates are used on the Internet. The
rate of 128 kbit/s is the most common, offering adequate audio quality in a relatively
CHAPTER 4. BASIC TECHNOLOGY: 12

small space. As Internet bandwidth availability and hard drive sizes have increased,
higher bit rates up to 320 kbps are widespread. Uncompressed audio as stored on
an audio-CD has a bit rate of 1,411.2 kbit/s, so the bitrates 128, 160 and 192 kbit/s
represent compression ratios of approximately 11:1, 9:1 and 7:1 respectively. Non-
standard bit rates up to 640 kbit/s can be achieved with the LAME encoder and
the freeformat option, although few MP3 players can play those files. According to
the ISO standard, decoders are only required to be able to decode streams up to 320
kbit/s.
CHAPTER 4. BASIC TECHNOLOGY: 13

4.5 VBR:
MPEG audio may use variable bitrate (VBR), accomplished via bitrate switching
on a per-frame basis, but only layer III decoders must support it. VBR is used
when the goal is to achieve a fixed level of quality. The final file size of a VBR
encoding is less predictable than with constant bitrate. Average bitrate is VBR
implemented as a compromise between the two - the bitrate is allowed to vary for
more consistent quality, but is controlled to remain near an average value chosen by
the user, for predictable file sizes. Although an MP3 decoder must support VBR to
be standards compliant, historically some decoders have bugs with VBR decoding,
particularly before VBR encoders became widespread. Layer III audio can also use
a ”bit reservoir”, a partially full frame’s ability to hold part of the next frame’s
audio data, allowing temporary changes in effective bitrate, even in a constant bitrate
stream.

4.6 File Structure:

An MP3 file is made up of multiple MP3 frames, which consist of a header and a
data block. This sequence of frames is called an elementary stream. Frames are not
independent items (”byte reservoir”) and therefore cannot be extracted on arbitrary
frame boundaries. The MP3 Data blocks contain the (compressed) audio information
in terms of frequencies and amplitudes. The diagram shows that the MP3 Header
consists of a sync word, which is used to identify the beginning of a valid frame. This
is followed by a bit indicating that this is the MPEG standard and two bits that
indicate that layer 3 is used; hence MPEG-1 Audio Layer 3 or MP3. After this, the
values will differ, depending on the MP3 file. ISO/IEC 11172-3 defines the range of
values for each section of the header along with the specification of the header. Most
MP3 files today contain ID3 metadata, which precedes or follows the MP3 frames; as
noted in the diagram.
CHAPTER 4. BASIC TECHNOLOGY: 14
CHAPTER 4. BASIC TECHNOLOGY: 15

Figure 4.1: File Structure

Chapter 5

MP3 FILE SHARING MARKET:

From the second half of 1994 through the late 1990s, MP3 files began to spread
on the Internet. The popularity of MP3s began to rise rapidly with the advent of
Nullsoft’s audio player Winamp, released in 1997. In 1998, the first portable solid
state digital audio player MPMan, developed by SaeHan Information Systems which
is headquartered in Seoul, South Korea, was released and the Rio PMP300 was sold
afterwards, despite legal suppression efforts by the RIAA. In November 1997, the
website mp3.com was offering thousands of MP3s created by independent artists for
free. The small size of MP3 files enabled widespread peer-to-peer file sharing of music
ripped from CDs, which would have previously been nearly impossible. The first large
peer-to-peer filesharing network, Napster, was launched in 1999. The ease of creating
and sharing MP3s resulted in widespread copyright infringement. Major record com-
panies argue that this free sharing of music reduces sales, and call it ”music piracy”.
They reacted by pursuing lawsuits against Napster (which was eventually shut down
and later sold) and against individual users who engaged in file sharing. Despite the
popularity of the MP3 format, online music retailers often use other proprietary for-
mats that are encrypted or obfuscated in order to make it difficult to use purchased
music files in ways not specifically authorized by the record companies. Attempting
to control the use of files in this way is known as Digital Rights Management. Record
companies argue that this is necessary to prevent the files from being made available

16
CHAPTER 5. MP3 FILE SHARING MARKET: 17

on peer-to-peer file sharing networks. This has other side effects, though, such as pre-
venting users from playing back their purchased music on different types of devices.
However, the audio content of these files can usually be converted into an unencrypted
format. For instance, users are often allowed to burn files to audio CD, which requires
conversion to an unencrypted audio format. Unauthorized MP3 file sharing continues
on next-generation peer-to-peer networks. Some authorized services, such as Beat-
port, Bleep, Juno Records, eMusic, Zune Marketplace, Walmart.com, Rhapsody, the
legal incarnation of Napster, and Amazon.com sell unrestricted music in the MP3
format.
Chapter 6

ADVANTAGES AND
DISADVANTAGES:

Technology ever advances, keeping even those that dislike technology constantly on
their toes. There are a lot of complaints about where technology is taking us and the
learning curve it takes to keep up with the Joneses. But when it comes to something
as basic as the music we listen to, however, everyone keeps up; music is part of who
we are and what defines us, so any advance in our music is seen as an advance in
ourselves. There is nothing we won’t do to hear better music. MP3s are the newest
format; it’s essentially a way to compress music down a bit, allowing minimum size
while keeping maximized quality. There are a number of advantages to MP3s, making
them the favorite format of today’s audiophiles. The obvious advantage is that they
can be used by a variety of different programs; this broad support allows people
to share the file, and thus enjoy the same music, as well as trade it. That broad
support allows them to be played in a variety of different ways and means, meaning
that anyone can play them, and virtually guaranteeing that they will play for anyone
regardless of which player is used. The size is another advantage. Besides being able
to fit more songs on players, the file can be uploaded quickly, downloaded faster,
and shared at the speed of light. The obvious issue is that regulating the trading of

18
CHAPTER 6. ADVANTAGES AND DISADVANTAGES: 19

files becomes important, but it also becomes harder. After all, it now becomes easy
to trade files, as all you need to do is to share a link to the files, and then anyone
with that link can download the music. More importantly, it means that the music
can downloaded for free; obviously record companies dislike that feature, but that
makes it great for promotional purposes, or sharing music that was just acquired at
a concert that night. Of course, an interesting advantage to MP3s is that they can
be easily added to any presentation. Their small size means that they can be added
to other things without adding too much to the size of the thing. They have thus
been added to such things as anime music videos (clips of various Japanese (and
other) animation that have been set to music), where smaller is better. The general
rule is that, when it comes to something that is going to be placed on the web, the
smaller that something is, the more likely that it will be seen and watched; the size
of MP3s makes a lot of what you see possible. By combining these features, music
becomes an agent of community, as music can be shared by people that have no
other connection to each other and thus allow those connections to spread. Music
is something that is universal, and is capable of breaking down barriers. When you
realize that not just music can be traded this way, as home-made broadcasts and
personal recordings can also be converted to MP3s, you begin to wonder what else
can be shared, such as beliefs and concepts that would be otherwise alien. Thus, by
trading music, you traded thoughts as well, and the world becomes all that much
smaller. In spite of the numerous advantages mentioned above, this music file format
has some disadvantages or limitations that we will further describe in our article.
A disadvantage of MP3 is that the song may skip at random places. This occurs
especially if you have a slow computer and are simultaneously using several programs
that are hogging the processor. Another drawback of MP3 is that it is not technically
free. You will also need an MP3 decoder if you want to convert audio from MP3 format
to WAV format. Another shortcoming is that the MP3 format has very little security
available. For example, people who used the MP3 file-sharing service Morpheus had
their computers accessed by hackers. Another limitation is that MP3 is not the
CHAPTER 6. ADVANTAGES AND DISADVANTAGES: 20

highest fidelity format for audio files. Other audio formats, such as Ogg Vorbis and
Advanced Audio Coding (AAC), are superior to MP3 in terms of quality. AAC is the
format used in Apple iTunes player. However, MP3 is still the most popular audio
format in the world. UNFORTUNATELY,ALTHOUGH MP3 HELP ARTISTS AND
CONSUMERS,THEY ALSO FACILIATATE THE PIRACY OF COPYRlGHTED
MUSIC.
Chapter 7

APPLICATION:

Detailed information for file extension MP3: Primary association: MPEG Audio
Stream, Layer III File classification: Audio Mime type : audio/mpeg, audio/x-mpeg,
audio/mp3, audio/x-mp3, audio/mpeg3, audio/x-mpeg3, audio/mpg, audio/x-mpg,
audio/x-mpegaudio
1. AlbumWrap (Wrapped Music File Archive) by Infamus Software LLCAl-
bumWrap allows you to select individual MP3 tracks and wrap them into one file.
The Extractor is free. This association is classified as Audio. The identifying char-
acters used for this association are - Hex: 49 44 33 03 , ASCII: ID3 Related links:
AlbumWrap Extractor.
2. Masterpoint (Green Points File) by ABF Masterpoint CentreA text file used
to transmit bridge card game scores. Use the program NAT4WIN as a convenient
method for entering the points. This file may have the file extension .GRN to keep
it from being confused with an MP3 media file. This association is classified as Text.
Related links: Format of ABF Masterpoint Files.
3. Mp3PRO Audio File(enhanced MP3 format).
4. Wrapster Wrapped File(hide any file in .MP3 format).
5. When MP3 audio file corrupted while transferring it from one device to an-
other.There is MP3 file recovery software is available to fix Mp3 files. The corrupted
MP3 file can be recovered with the same music quality.

21
Chapter 8

LIMITATION:

There are several limitations inherent to the MP3 format that cannot be overcome by
any MP3 encoder. Newer audio compression formats such as Vorbis, WMA Pro and
AAC are generally void of a number of these limitations. In technical terms, some
limitations include:
1. Time resolution can be too low for highly transient signals and may cause
smearing of percussive sounds.
2. Due to the tree structure of the filter bank, pre-echo problems are made worse, as
the combined impulse response of the two filter banks does not, and cannot, provide
an optimum solution in time/frequency resolution.
3. The combining of the two filter banks’ outputs creates aliasing problems that must
be handled partially by the aliasing compensation stage; however, that creates excess
energy to be coded in the frequency domain, thereby decreasing coding efficiency.
4. Frequency resolution is limited by the small long block window size, which decreases
coding efficiency.
5. There is no scale factor band for frequencies above 15.5/15.8 kHz.
6. Joint stereo is done only on a frame-to-frame basis.
7. Internal handling of the bit reservoir increases encoding delay.
8. Encoder/decoder overall delay is not defined, which means there is no official
provision for gapless playback. However, some encoders such as LAME can attach

22
CHAPTER 8. LIMITATION: 23

additional metadata that will allow players that can handle it to deliver seamless
playback.
9. The data stream can contain an optional checksum, but the checksum only protects
the header data, not the audio data.
Chapter 9

Future Scope

There is no doubt that digital audio has created a quantum leap in audio technology
over the past three decades with increased sound quality that cost much less than
analog system and the added flexibility in signal processing using software editing
tools on computer workstation. It had caused a major impact that has both practical
and economic values which led to the development of digital terrestrial and satellite
broadcastings such as the DVB,ATSC, Eureka-147 DAB, HD Radio, ISDB-T, DRM,
WorldSpace, XM Radio and Sirius Radio. Broadcast contents can also be transmitted
online using MP3 podcast. Digital copies can now be generated indefinitely without
degradation and non-audio data such as the artist’s names and track titles can be
included together with the audio. The gap between broadcast BES 2008, New Delhi,
India Monday, 25 February 2008 Session on ”Evolving Technologies - The Journey
Ahead” Roland-BES-2008.doc Page 6 of 8 and home entertainment based on CD and
DVD in terms of its sound quality has been narrowed by quite a huge margin.As
innovation continues to make further progress in the new millennium, digital audio
has moved beyond 44.1 kHz/16-bits stereo to higher resolution multi-channel formats
at up to 192 kHz/24-bits. With the exception of TV, it remains to be seen of the po-
tential of the higher resolution multi-channel audio format within the realm of radio.
With advanced audio coding techniques, broadcasters can now offer more contents
without trading sound quality such as the DAB+ in digital radio. Although the basic

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CHAPTER 9. FUTURE SCOPE 25

technology behind loudspeaker and microphone designs have remained unchanged for
many years, its performances have been digitally enhanced using advanced DSP. In
the area of audio recording, solid-state recorder based on flash memory medium is
beginning to replace all optical disk medium. Network and server storage systems
will be a major trend in the broadcast industry. The ability to search information us-
ing metadata-based systems such as MPEG-7 and MPEG-21 will become even more
important. The combination of advanced digital audio processing algorithms and
fast IP-based networking systems with powerful, portable, low-power computation
and flash memory-based storage medium promises a new era in broadcasting. With
wireless network such as Bluetooth, most wires and cables can be eliminated. Rich
media including MPEG-4 audio, video and associated data can be streamed over
IP networks using multi-point networked or P2P distribution.Digital broadcasting
will continue to exist in the 21st century as a more efficient and costeffective means
of reaching its audience en masse . However, broadcasters can no longer afford to
rely solely on terrestrial or satellite transmission. It would have to place equal em-
phasis on its services through the other alternative delivery platforms that include
Internet streaming . Perhaps traditional programming format that is still so deeply
entrenched in the mindset of many broadcasters requires a paradigm shift, moving
towards the concept of niche, on-demand and interactive content programming. With
digital technology, its role and applications will grow beyond traditional radio and
television broadcasts. If the progress of digital audio technology and its impact in
the broadcast industry in the past three decades are any indication, it is clear that
we are in for another very exciting future ahead!
Chapter 10

References

1. Michael McCandless ”The MP3 Revolution”-IEEE INTELLIGENT SYSTEM PA-

PER
2. Seymour Shlien ”Guide to MPEG-1 Standard”-IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON
BROADCASTING, VOL. 40, NO. 4, DECEMBER 1994
3. Scot Hacker ”MP3: The Definitive Guide”-1st Edition March 2000
4. Roland K. C. Tan & Asaad S. Bagharib ”Emerging Trends in Audio Technology”-
Session on Evolving Technologies
5. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MP3

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