MP3 is the popular name for MPEG Audio Layer 3 encoding format. It was standardize in 1991 by the ISO/IEC MPEG audio committee. Using MP3, audio can be lossy compressed with different bit rates, providing a range of tradeoffs between data size and sound quality. This page covers this specific form of lossy compression that is widely used for music, as well as some forays into Layer 2 and Layer 1 encoding.
SPDemo is an assisting tool for teaching speech & audio processing techniques developed in SIPL.
Using SPDemo one can select from a variety of speech & audio processing techniques and parameters in a straightforward and simple way. The results of this processing are shown both numerically and graphically, in order to ease the analysis of data. The purpose of SPDemo is to enable experiments with different audio & speech processing algorithms without actually implementing them.
Free for educational purposes.
Created: 05/02/2007
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Everybody know, that MP3 CANNOT be compressed (commonly on MP3 forums some guys offer genius idea to use zip for MP3 collection, but moderators stop such stupid threads before all other guys describe such ideas level). Common compression ratio for MP3 files is 1:1.01 even for very good compressors.
This utility allows to compress with ratio 1:1.2! Let's test it!
Created: 31/05/2006
by Dmitriy VatolinMore...
It is a very good site to know about audio technology and ask your questions. The site is organized as a forum, it has comprehensive FAQ.
Created: 11/02/2006
by Maxim SmirnovMore...
By Karl-Heinz Brandenburg from Fraunhofer Institute for Integrated Circuits. The paper gives an introduction to audio compression for music file exchange. Beyond the basics the focus is on quality issues and the compression ratio /
audio bandwidth / artifacts tradeoffs.
Created: 31/01/2006
by Maxim SmirnovMore...
The unofficial MPEG Audio page at University of Hannover. The page has news about MPEG Audio, overviews, a set of usefull links, MPEG Audio FAQ, MPEG-4 Audio standard drafts, some reference software.
Created: 31/01/2006
by Maxim SmirnovMore...
The page contains comparative tables on general and technical information for a variety of audio codecs. There also links to some comparative tests.
Created: 30/01/2006
by Maxim SmirnovMore...
Real is making their client software available in an Open Source program. Download this software and you can develop your own MP3 or H.263 player! Free of royalties if you are distributing it for free - commercial products pay a royalty. The Helix DNA Client contains support in source code form for the following data types: MP3, H.263, SMIL, JPEG, GIF, PNG, RealPix, PCM, WAV.
Created: 30/10/2002
by Mark NelsonMore...
This site is dedicated to the MP3 standard. You will find here information about the MP3 standard and upcoming audio compression techniques, tests, MPEG source code.
Created: 05/11/1999
by Mark NelsonMore...
Wouldn't it be great if there was a free MP3 player written in a portable language like Java? These guys certainly think so.
Version 1.0 was shipping in November, 2004.
DCL user comment: Cool.
Created: 11/01/2004
by Mark NelsonMore...
Despite the protestations, you can use LAME to create MP3 streams. It does it with the magic of the ISO demo code. LAME isn't lame, lots of people seem to like it.
Created: 15/09/2002
by Mark NelsonMore...
WinAmp is a very popular freeware MP3 player for Windows PCs.
WinAmp is shipping version 5.0.3 as of March, 2004.
Created: 28/03/2004
by Mark NelsonMore...
The MoviX project is a series of three different tiny Linux CD distributions containing all the software to boot from a CD and play multimedia files through MPlayer, the best multimedia player in the Unix world:
eMoviX: a micro Linux distro meant to be embedded in a CD together with all video/audio files you want, so that the CD will be able to boot and automagically play all files;
MoviX: a mini CD Linux distro able to boot directly from CD and load in RAM a console interface to MPlayer. From the interface you can easily play DVDs, VCDs, audio/video files Audio CD, internet radios, TV, you name it!
MoviX2:same as MoviX, but it makes use of X and makes use of the nice MPlayer GUI.
Supported formats are all formats supported by MPlayer, most noticeably DivX but more in general any AVI, MPG, QuickTime, MP3, OGG/VORBIS and a few others.
eMoviX is at release 0.8.0rc1, MoviX is at 0.8.0pre2, and MoviX2 is at pre0.3.0pre2 as of April, 2003.
Created: 05/04/2003
by Mark NelsonMore...
Mp3stat is Linux a utility program to compare encoders against an MP3 that was VBR encoded. It outputs a linear graphical bitstream analysis of each MP3 being compared and gives you a breakdown of how many frames of each bitrate are found in the MP3. It basically allows you to see how encoders treat areas in the same MP3s differently and lets users discover some of the bitrate effects of different quality levels of the same encoder. Mp3stat also supports Oggs.
Version 2.5.10 of mp3stat is shipping as July 2004.
Created: 27/07/2004
by Mark NelsonMore...
WMA To MP3 Converter was written for converting WMA to or from MP3/WAV files. So, with WMA to MP3 Converter, you may convert WMA to MP3, convert WMA to WAV, convert WAV to WMA, convert MP3 to WMA.
Created: 10/07/2004
by Mark NelsonMore...
The MP3 Streaming DownSampler for PHP is written with cable modem/DSL users with low upstream caps in mind. Using LAME, it dynamically downsamples a requested MP3 to a bitrate which can be streamed. It doesn't use temporary files, so you don't have to take the time to do any batching, and you just give it a directory with symlinks to your music in a place the Web server can reach. The interface is simplistic and fast, meant for immediate plug and play access.
Created: 04/07/2004
by Mark NelsonMore...
This page offers very simple but very useful C source code to parse MP3 files. The parser gives detailed info of each frame in the MP3 file. It presents header info, side info and main data corresponding to each frame in the MP3 file. I was not able to find such a tool on the net so I did it myself and now I want to offer it to the world free of cost.
This is a suite of programs which will help you to convert your existing mp3 files into ogg. The suite includes a text and a graphical frontend. Requires mpg321, mp3info, oggenc, vorbiscomment (zenity for gui).
Created: 22/02/2004
by Mark NelsonMore...
Roberto Amorim is a familiar and friendly presence on the Hydrogen Audio board. This link points to the many audio compression listening tests he has conducted. These include evaluations of AAC and MP3 encoders at a rew different rates.
Created: 14/02/2004
by Mark NelsonMore...
This app from AbyssMedia is advertised as being able to turn your computer into complete audio recording studio. That means you have the ability to record from external inputs directly to MP3, OGG, WMA, or WAV format. Includes niceties such as MP3 and OGG tag editors, Voice Activated recording, skin support, and more.
Version 6.05 is shipping in November, 2003.
Created: 15/11/2003
by Mark NelsonMore...
This reference page breaks down the structure of an MP3 file quite nicely. Covers all the stuff you've wanted to know in detail.
Created: 27/10/2003
by Mark NelsonMore...
With this plugin your copy of Winamp will display track information on an LCD display attached to your PC. Just the thing if you're looking to set up a jukebox of some kind, maybe in your car. Windows, free.
Created: 15/07/2003
by Mark NelsonMore...
This product analyzes and adjusts MP3 files so that they all have the same volume. It appears to be free.
As of Septembery, 2003, Version 1.4.3 is shipping.
Created: 06/07/2003
by Mark NelsonMore...
Billed as a front end for the Lame encoder, LameFE actually supports much more than that on the Win32 platform. Rip CDs, encode using Lame, Monkey's Audio, or Ogg Vorbis, or playback using a similar batch of codecs.
Created: 06/07/2003
by Mark NelsonMore...
Damascus Porteng wrote this downsampler that will take an input MP3 stream and resample it at a lower bit rate. Looks like open source that will run on *NIX systems.
Created: 28/06/2003
by Mark NelsonMore...
CoolPlayer is a nice, fast MP3 player targeted to Windows. This Open Source project is a nice piece of work, and the team has created a player that has the features to compete with good commercial players.
Build 214 of CoolPlayer shipped in June, 2003.
Created: 08/06/2003
by Mark NelsonMore...
This product takes your text, converts it to speech, then stores the result in one of several compressed formats, including MP3, Ogg Vorbis, and G.721.
Created: 07/06/2003
by Mark NelsonMore...
This PHP script reads ID3 tags from MP3 files, as well as tons of other tag types from various other audio and other media files.
Created: 05/05/2003
by Mark NelsonMore...
An MP3 editor, lets you split and join MP3 files, as well as creating or modifying ID3 tags.
Version 2.40 shipped in April, 2003.
Created: 26/04/2003
by Mark NelsonMore...
From the web site:crip is a terminal-based ripper/encoder/tagger tool for creating Ogg Vorbis/FLAC/MP3 files under UNIX/Linux. It is well-suited for someone seeking to make a lot of files from CDs and have them all properly labeled and professional-quality. One thing to note is that the author of this free package has removed MP3 support, and limits you to Ogg Vorbis or FLAC for encoding.
Version 3.4 is shipping as of April, 2003.
Created: 15/04/2003
by Mark NelsonMore...
This appears to be a tool that is designed to aid you in the process of digitizing your LPs and cassettes to your PC. It will export to MP3 format, which explains its presence here.
Created: 14/04/2003
by Mark NelsonMore...
WMA MP3 Recorder turns your computer into complete audio recording studio. You can record sound from any internal or external source into WMA/MP3 format sound file directly without use additional disk space.
Version 5.60 is shipping as of April, 2003
Created: 08/04/2003
by Mark NelsonMore...
A freeware MP3 encoder for Mac OS X. Uses the LAME encoder to do all the work, provides a nice GUI front end for all that.
Shipping version 0.5.2, still in beta, as of April 2003.
Created: 05/04/2003
by Mark NelsonMore...
A description of how to control WinAmp from an external program. As a bonus, the techniques work for Sonique 1.x as well. Daniel Bright seems to have come up with this totally via reverse engineering.
Created: 27/03/2003
by Mark NelsonMore...
The author of this program, Philippe Laval, says You are looking for an application to encode your sound files in MP3, DropMP3 is done for you.. The program runs on MacOS, uses the LAME encoder, and is released under the GPL. Note that the web page is more or less duplicated in English and French.
Version 1.0.6 is shipping as of March, 2003.
Created: 26/03/2003
by Mark NelsonMore...
David posted this C code with the following comment: I have no idea if this is useful to folks, but since I had to beat my head against the silly Microsoft APIs for quite some time to get a useable result, I thought it might be helpful to post this little snippet showing you how to find an ACM decoder for MP3s, intiialize it, and use it to decode streaming MP3 buffers.
Reader Simon commented: Need to do some type casting when compiling with Visual C++ 6.0 as well as linking with msacm32.lib..
Created: 22/03/2003
by Mark NelsonMore...
This mp3 player uses the DJGPP C compiler to port the MPG123 player to MS-DOS. Binaries and source available. Version 3.0 appears to have been worked on in 2002, but no history file seems to be available.
Created: 22/03/2003
by Mark NelsonMore...
From the SourceForge development page for DJWrap: The DJWrap format is an effort to create an open format for combining several MPEG audio streams into one, without losing information about the original files and without disturbing the stream with erroneous or misplaced data.
Version 0.9.2 is shipping as of March, 2003.
Created: 19/03/2003
by Mark NelsonMore...
Jocsoft makes some software products used for searching the web, and one of those is designed to search for MP3 files. As a result, they decided to include a nice page of MP3 links for developers on their web page. It's a little dated, with a high ratio of dead links, but still worth a look if you're an MP3 afficionado.
Created: 16/03/2003
by Mark NelsonMore...
mp3record is a command-line utility for recording any audio (system mixer, input, mic, etc.) directly to an mp3 file on a linux system. It can run for a set interval and shut itself off. Ideal uses for this script would be recording streams, meetings, etc.
Release 1.3 is shipping in March, 2003.
Created: 15/03/2003
by Mark NelsonMore...
Waver is a program that can convert back and forth between MP3 and WAV formats, using the Blade and LAME MP3 codecs. This product's claim to fame is its ability to soak up all the cycles on more than one CPU simultaneously. So if you're lucky enough to have a multi-CPU MOBO, you can go to town with this commercial product. You get a 30-day free trial to decide if it's worth the price.
Created: 13/03/2003
by Mark NelsonMore...
Power WMA Recorder is a program that can create WMA files from any available sound source directly without using any additional disk space. In addition to supporting Microsoft's WMA format (including the variable bit rate option), Power WMA Recorder can encode directly to MP3 format.
Version 1.34 is shipping in March, 2003.
Created: 08/03/2003
by Mark NelsonMore...
This Win32 program is designed to work directly with your sound card, allowing you to record audio from virtually any source and any program. It makes it into DataCompression.info because it will encode directly to MP3 format.
Version 1.05 is shipping as of March, 2003.
Created: 05/03/2003
by Mark NelsonMore...
ID3 (or mp3info as it is called on Sourceforge) is a collection of classes useful for reading ID3-tags and ID3v2-tags as well as technical information on the file like bitrates and playing times. It also includes an API to write ID3 (V1 and V2) tags to an mp3 file.
Created: 19/01/2003
by Mark NelsonMore...
BonkEnc is an audio CD ripper and an encoder for various audio formats. It can produce Ogg Vorbis, MP3 and BONK files. More formats are available through plug-ins.
Created: 19/01/2003
by Mark NelsonMore...
PlusV is a brand new audio compression enhancement technology that allows audio files to be compressed in as little as 64 or even 48 kbits/s. PlusV is not a compression scheme of its own, it is an extension that can be applied to existing audio formats. When combined with the MP3 technology, MP3+V files are fully compatible with existing MP3 files and decoders. To get full audio quality out of PlusV files, you just need a PlusV capable decoder, like a PlusV capable WinAmp plugin.
Created: 08/11/2002
by Mark NelsonMore...
The cwenc utility is primarily a tool for musicians working with Cakewalk music production software, such as Home Studio and Sonar. cwenc enables you to export your original music to a compressed audio file format, such as MP3 or Ogg Vorbis, from within the mentioned Cakewalk products. cwenc is a direct replacement for the time-limited demo-version of Cakewalk's commercial MP3 encoder program, which is packaged with both Home Studio and Sonar.
Created: 30/10/2002
by Mark NelsonMore...
The MP3elf is a low-cost Ethernet connected MP3 player that receives a MP3 stream from a local area network server and delivers it to amplified speakers or a Hi-Fi system. You can have a single source of MP3 files in your home or office, and browse through playlists from any MP3elf. The Universal IR receiver allows the MP3elf to respond to one of your existing Remote Controls (or use the on-board pushbuttons) and the LCD interface can display your very own choice of information. The elfServer software design allows compatibility with a range of different front-end options. As it is Java based, it can run on Windows, Macintosh, or Linux machines.
Created: 30/10/2002
by Mark NelsonMore...
At the time of its addition to the database, this project appears to be in a very early alpha state. Looks as though volunteers are needed!
Created: 12/10/2002
by Mark NelsonMore...
The Zinf audio player is a simple, but powerful audio player for Linux and Win32. It supports MP3, Ogg/Vorbis, WAV and Audio CD playback, SHOUTcast/Icecast HTTP streaming, RTP streaming, a powerful music browser, theme support and a download manager. Zinf is based on the FreeAmp source code. However, AMP® is a trademark of PlayMedia Systems, Inc., and therefore the original name of the project cannot be used any longer. On this website the old project will be referred to as FreeA*p.
Created: 16/09/2002
by Mark NelsonMore...
This web site aims to provind blind quality testing of sound codecs. The range of tested codecs includes various MPEG-4 AAC, MPEG-1 Layer III, OggEnc, WMA, RealAudio.
Created: 18/08/2002
by Mark NelsonMore...
A nice set of papers on audio coding. Includes goodies such as the ISO standards on MPEG-2 part 3 audio coding.
Created: 07/08/2002
by Mark NelsonMore...
This conversion tool will convert between several audio formats, including MP3, WMA, WAV, OGG, APE, MPC, CUE, AAC, MP4, M4A, TTA, AC3, FLAC, OptimFROG, Speex, WavPack, ALAC. Does resampling. Supports ID3V1 and V2, plus other goodies.
Created: 09/07/2002
by Mark NelsonMore...
An overview and explanation about MP3 from the folks at Fraunhofer. If you want to get a good overview in a single web page, this might be the spot for you.
Created: 04/06/2002
by Mark NelsonMore...
Dr. Keith Devlin writes an article in the UK Guardian explaining a bit about the technology behing the MP3 format.
Created: 07/04/2002
by Mark NelsonMore...
MP3' Tech calls this "the biggest MPEG audio source codes area avaible on the Internet." Find source for MPEG-1/2/2.5 Layer 1/2/3, MPEG-2 AAC and MPEG-4, as well as UI code.
Reader Robert S. said It seems very hard to find a description of the Layer 3 bitstream format. Fimally found it here.
Created: 12/01/2002
by Mark NelsonMore...
EE Times reports that both TI and SMT are making chips that support the new MP3Pro format, clearing the way for its inclusion in portable audio devices.
Created: 21/09/2001
by Mark NelsonMore...
Mpegplus is an open source lossy encoder that the author apparently has created in response to dissatisfaction with existing MP3 encoders. MP+ has plugins for WinAmp and other players.
Created: 30/08/2001
by Mark NelsonMore...
The author of this page clearly has a bone to pick with some of the MP3 decoders out there. From the site: This site contains test results on a number of mp3 decoders. Such a test wouldn't be necessary if all decoders worked properly, but unfortunately they don't. In fact the outputs of many popular decoders were found to be incorrect. .
Created: 30/08/2001
by Mark NelsonMore...
These guys are responsible for some of the work that took the MP3 standard to its next revision: MP3Pro. They say their current focus is the development and marketing of SBR-enhanced codecs.
Created: 15/06/2001
by Mark NelsonMore...
ZDNet reports that MP3 patent holders, Fraunofer Institute and Thomson Multimedia are shopping around a new version of the aging audio standard. Formats such as Microsoft's Windows Media format have been eating into the MP3 dominance on the net.
Created: 16/05/2001
by Mark NelsonMore...
Stream Machines is selling a dedicate chip that will decode MPEG-1, -2, and -3, along with MP3 and other standards. The chip will be roughly $35 in quantity.
Created: 16/05/2001
by Mark NelsonMore...
Links to lots of info regarding the audio compression portions of the MPEG standards. This includes an overview, the MPEG Audio FAQ, pointers to resources, some free software, and test bitstreams.
Created: 19/11/1999
by Mark NelsonMore...
mplib is a C library that enables programms to access ID3 tags in MP3 files. ID3 tags are meta-informations such as the title, artist or comments that come with most MP3's. mplib supports ID3 version 1 and version 2 tags. It is written to be very easy to use, fast and cross-platform capable.
Created: 01/01/1970
by Mark NelsonMore...
