On Dec 20, 2006, at 3:59 PM, Bob Shell wrote: > >> .MP3 is the file extension for an MPEG-3 file. It is the >> compressed file >> all the kids are using on their IPOD type devices. Really lossy, the >> sound is really compressed too, but it does make a movie >> downloadable. >> Means something like Motion Picture Electronic Graphic file. > > Not really lossy, at least not the version I use. I can't really > hear any significant difference between the CDs I make and the much > smaller mp3 files. MPEG stands for Motion Picture Experts Group, > just as JPEG stands for Joint Photographic Experts Group. These are > the groups that set the specs for the file types.
MPEG-3 can be fairly lossy or fairly tight, depends what bit rate you use in rendering it ... much like JPEG. 196Kbps MP3s are not very lossy at all. That said, there are MPEG-4 (m4p files) encoded with AAC that are much smaller and have lower losses, and there are several lossless compression algorithms too, all of which get called "MP3s" as they are all downloaded from the same sites. The world of audio and video compression can get arbitrarily complex ... G -- PDML Pentax-Discuss Mail List [email protected] http://pdml.net/mailman/listinfo/pdml_pdml.net
