Where does this come from, and can I check it?

Fraunhofer's perceptual coder became part of an ISO standard in 1993. The figure is taken from Fraunhofer IIS, which is linked in full on this page. Every fact on Mondo Knows names its source rather than repeating an unsourced claim.

Is this really a music fact?

Yes. It sits on the Music shelf, one of 2,600 sourced facts grouped into space, animals, the human body, history, science and more. Category pages collect every fact in the same field.

What else can I read about it?

The links under the fact point to a quiz, game, puzzle or calculator on the same subject, and the shelf below shows related facts. The wording here is original, and quoted phrases are marked as quotations.

Mondo Knows Facts

MP3 shrank music by throwing detail away

Fraunhofer's perceptual coder became part of an ISO standard in 1993 MP3 relies on psychoacoustics: it discards sounds the ear is unlikely to miss, especially quiet high frequencies masked by louder ones nearby. Fraunhofer IIS developed it with Erlangen university and it joined the MPEG-1 audio standard in 1993. The last patents expired in 2017. It sits in Mondo's music collection, one of 200 facts that each trace back to the reference below.

Where this comes from

Fraunhofer IIS

Facts that can change over time are reviewed and updated. If something here looks wrong, Mondo would rather know than be confidently incorrect.

Go further

Technology trivia Science trivia

More facts like this

The MP3 compression algorithm reduced audio file sizes by ninety percentFraunhofer Institute scientists developed psychoacoustic compression to make music downloadable MP3 throws away sound you would not noticeIt drops detail masked by louder sounds nearby in frequency and time The loudness war flattened CD masters for two decadesEngineers squeezed peaks with compressors so their records would sound louder Records got measurably louder and flatterHeavy compression raised average level while squashing peaks The Fairlight CMI was the first digital samplerThe Australian workstation arrived in 1979 and cost as much as a house Peaks between samples can exceed digital zeroReconstruction filters can overshoot the highest stored value in a digital file

Tags: mp3, compression, digital

MP3 shrank music by throwing detail away: the short answers

Where does this come from, and can I check it?: Fraunhofer's perceptual coder became part of an ISO standard in 1993. The figure is taken from Fraunhofer IIS, which is linked in full on this page. Every fact on Mondo Knows names its source rather than repeating an unsourced claim.
Is this really a music fact?: Yes. It sits on the Music shelf, one of 2,600 sourced facts grouped into space, animals, the human body, history, science and more. Category pages collect every fact in the same field.
What else can I read about it?: The links under the fact point to a quiz, game, puzzle or calculator on the same subject, and the shelf below shows related facts. The wording here is original, and quoted phrases are marked as quotations.