Many are considering MP3 as another word for digitally stored music. Even if the MP3 format is just one of many different digital audio formats it has a history that no other format can match. Like most audio formats used on the web, the MP3 format is compressed. Depending on the bitrate the file uses, it will lose a certain amount of information, but the fact remains that you can never get all of the audio information into a MP3 track. How much it really affects the listener is often subjective, but so called lossless audio formats are becoming more and more popular and now we have mp3HD.
mp3HD will, just like other lossless audio codecs offer 100% copy of CD tracks and the format is even backward compatible with the classic mp3 format. Among others it uses the same id3 tag metadata.
mp3HD will use bitrates between 500 and 900 kbps. Below is a table covering different bitrates and file sizes.
| Genre | Average mp3HD bit rate | Average 4 minute mp3HD file size |
|---|---|---|
| Pop, Rock, Folk | 876 kbit/s | 26 MB |
| Jazz | 786 kbit/s | 23.5 MB |
| Classical | 605 kbit/s | 18 MB |
| Audio books | 474 kbit/s | 14 MB |
More information on mp3HD can be found over at all4mp3.com where you can also download a software package for testing the new audio format.
