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The Fraunhofer IIS labs in Germany
created the MPEG 1 layer 3 codec. Their compression
algorithm is based on perceptual encoding. Researchers
found that there are certain harmonics in audio
signals that humans cannot perceive, as well as
harmonics that obscure the presence of other frequencies.
An MPEG encoder reads an audio file and determines
which harmonics are perceptible and imperceptible.
This perceptually based exclusion process is similar
to the "lossy" compression used in MiniDisk
systems, and results in far greater sonic accuracy
than compression through lowering the sample rate.
Encoding in MP3 format allows the user to select
resultant quality in terms of kilobytes per second
(kbps). This measurement refers to how many bytes
of data will be analyzed per second. The higher
the kbps, the larger the file size and the more
accurate the sound quality.
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