What is MP3?
[[Image:MP3 logo.png|thumb|right|MP3 Logo]] '''MPEG-1 and/or MPEG-2 Audio Layer 3''' ('''MP3''') is a lossy [[data compression]] format for audio. Using it makes smaller [[computer file]]s containing digitized [[music]] and other [[sound]]s. Many people like to use MP3 files to copy music so they can listen to it on their computer. Record companies do not like it when people use the [[Internet]] to share these MP3 files with each other. They think it is a [[violation]] of their [[copyright]]. The record industries have a [[trade group]] called the [[RIAA]] that has sued people for sharing music. An Internet website called [[Napster]] was shut down because of this. Napster has since re-opened, but does not let people share MP3 files anymore.<ref>{{Cite web|last=|date=2023-03-14|title=.MP3 File Open With -|url=https://fileopenwith.com/mp3|access-date=2023-05-25|language=en-US|archive-date=2023-05-25|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230525120501/https://fileopenwith.com/mp3|url-status=dead}}</ref> ==History== In the 1980s, Dieter Seitzer started the development of a code for audio format of high-quality. Together with his team at the ''German Fraunhofer Institut'' in Erlangen, the professor had the idea to create code with a low bit-rate. The German institute received the patent for MP3 in 1989. MP3 was then passed to the International Organisation for Standardisation. In the same year the MP3 was included into MPEG-1 specification. (MPEG means Moving Picture Experts Group). The first player for the MP3 format was designed by the same Fraunhofer Institute in 1990's. A Croatian student named ''[[Tomislav Uzelac]]'' developed ''AMP MP3 Playback Engine'' in 1997. After the player appeared on the Internet, two students named ''Justin Frankel'' and ''Dmitry Boldyrev'' transformed it into [[Winamp]]. They took the engine of the original player and added the interface of the [[Microsoft Windows|Windows]].{{fact|date=April 2009}} When Winamp was launched into the net for free use it became successful at once.