Communication · 1993

MP3 audio compression

Psychoacoustics shrinks a song about tenfold, and music moves onto networks.

Developed largely at Germany's Fraunhofer Institute under Karlheinz Brandenburg, MPEG-1 Audio Layer III was standardised in 1993. By discarding sounds listeners cannot hear, it made music small enough to download, leading to Napster in 1999, the iPod and streaming services.

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