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Why do people insist on still using MP3, when better stuff is available? YouTube hasn't used MP3 for years, with good reason. You can use Opus or AAC, even mos

Why do people insist on still using MP3, when better stuff is available? YouTube hasn't used MP3 for years, with good reason. You can use Opus or AAC, even most car systems should work with one of them.

charcircuit 5y ago
marketing
- MayaFey 5y ago
  Can you elaborate? Who markets it and stands to gain from MP3's continued usage?
  - charcircuit 5y ago
    Well currently it would be royalties from licensing it out (the patent is expired so it's technically not needed anymore). There is also a benefit since consumers are more familiar with the word MP3 as opposed to AAC. However I think marketing in the past is much more relevant. I have heard of "MP3 players", but not "AAC" players.
    - qwerty456127 5y ago
      > I have heard of "MP3 players", but not "AAC" players. Because the latter are called "MP4 players" and the files are meant to have ".m4a" extension. Also because dedicated media player devices stopped being something ordinary people need (because smartphones) sooner than MP4 became a thing.
tashbarg 5y ago
Same reasons people still use jpeg.
fulafel 5y ago
For tech giants optimizing for transit, the complexity and engineering costs of improvements are easily paid for by even small savings, and because it's just transit, you can support multiple formats simultaneously. And everything you do is ephemeral: You could have a new codec every day and not ruin any archivist's day with long term support requirements (excepts the ones they try to shake off anyway). TLDR: for Youtube, transit bw is expensive and rapidly evolving codec cornucopia is cheap enough to cover with the bw savings.
poser-boy 5y ago
If your comment was aimed at shine specifically, here is an excerpt from the bottom of the readme: This code was dug out from the dusty crates of those times before internet and github. It apparently was created by Gabriel Bouvigne sometime around the end of the 20th century.
zinekeller 5y ago
> Why do people insist on still using MP3, when better stuff is available? First, most people here recognize that this is something from the past. Second, some people work with older systems which do not support AAC due to patent reasons. This is not about libre software, just the fact that MP3 is easy to support because its patent fees (at the time anyway) are lower than AAC and the circuitry can be placed for tenth of a US cent (which Opus don't have advantage of). There are new standalone players (built into speakers or radios) out there which don't support AAC purely because of patent fees (MP3 no longer have active patents). This makes MP3 a lowest-common denominator of compatibility.
- astrange 5y ago
  Note AAC-LC patents expired in 2017 (that's the one iTunes uses); HE-AAC should expire in 2024 (that's the one <128kbps streaming uses).
  - jbk 5y ago
    PS and SBR notably.
kouteiheika 5y ago
> Why do people insist on still using MP3, when better stuff is available? It's patent-free and well supported everywhere by everything. For example, if you want to use audio on a webpage, and you want it to work *everywhere*, and you don't want to have to encode multiple formats/containers then MP3 is the only option. You can't use Opus because of course Safari (it does support it, but only in a Safari-specific container), and AAC is not support on Firefox in certain situations (because it doesn't actually include an AAC codec and relies on the OS to decode it).
severak_cz 5y ago
because MP3 is supported by everything including your toaster
scns 5y ago
Stopped using Opus after encountering bluetooth speakers that could not decode it. Having my collection with me is only useful if i can listen to it. Now i use high VBR mp3 in 48k, no need to upsample on playback.
- danhor 5y ago
  Bluetooth Speakers don't directly use the compressed format, but another format (in the worst case SBC) recompressed by the player. I've never seen one that supported MP3 compression. Or did you mean native playback from sd cards/usb sticks?
  - scns 5y ago
    Had my music on my phone as opus. Did not work on the bluetooth speaker of a woman i was involved it. Better sound at lower bitrate is worthless if you can't play it.

charcircuit 5y ago

marketing

MayaFey 5y ago
Can you elaborate? Who markets it and stands to gain from MP3's continued usage?
- charcircuit 5y ago
  Well currently it would be royalties from licensing it out (the patent is expired so it's technically not needed anymore). There is also a benefit since consumers are more familiar with the word MP3 as opposed to AAC. However I think marketing in the past is much more relevant. I have heard of "MP3 players", but not "AAC" players.
  - qwerty456127 5y ago
    > I have heard of "MP3 players", but not "AAC" players. Because the latter are called "MP4 players" and the files are meant to have ".m4a" extension. Also because dedicated media player devices stopped being something ordinary people need (because smartphones) sooner than MP4 became a thing.

tashbarg 5y ago

Same reasons people still use jpeg.

fulafel 5y ago

For tech giants optimizing for transit, the complexity and engineering costs of improvements are easily paid for by even small savings, and because it's just transit, you can support multiple formats simultaneously. And everything you do is ephemeral: You could have a new codec every day and not ruin any archivist's day with long term support requirements (excepts the ones they try to shake off anyway). TLDR: for Youtube, transit bw is expensive and rapidly evolving codec cornucopia is cheap enough to cover with the bw savings.

poser-boy 5y ago

If your comment was aimed at shine specifically, here is an excerpt from the bottom of the readme: This code was dug out from the dusty crates of those times before internet and github. It apparently was created by Gabriel Bouvigne sometime around the end of the 20th century.

zinekeller 5y ago

> Why do people insist on still using MP3, when better stuff is available? First, most people here recognize that this is something from the past. Second, some people work with older systems which do not support AAC due to patent reasons. This is not about libre software, just the fact that MP3 is easy to support because its patent fees (at the time anyway) are lower than AAC and the circuitry can be placed for tenth of a US cent (which Opus don't have advantage of). There are new standalone players (built into speakers or radios) out there which don't support AAC purely because of patent fees (MP3 no longer have active patents). This makes MP3 a lowest-common denominator of compatibility.

astrange 5y ago
Note AAC-LC patents expired in 2017 (that's the one iTunes uses); HE-AAC should expire in 2024 (that's the one <128kbps streaming uses).
- jbk 5y ago
  PS and SBR notably.

kouteiheika 5y ago

> Why do people insist on still using MP3, when better stuff is available? It's patent-free and well supported everywhere by everything. For example, if you want to use audio on a webpage, and you want it to work *everywhere*, and you don't want to have to encode multiple formats/containers then MP3 is the only option. You can't use Opus because of course Safari (it does support it, but only in a Safari-specific container), and AAC is not support on Firefox in certain situations (because it doesn't actually include an AAC codec and relies on the OS to decode it).

severak_cz 5y ago

because MP3 is supported by everything including your toaster

scns 5y ago

Stopped using Opus after encountering bluetooth speakers that could not decode it. Having my collection with me is only useful if i can listen to it. Now i use high VBR mp3 in 48k, no need to upsample on playback.

danhor 5y ago
Bluetooth Speakers don't directly use the compressed format, but another format (in the worst case SBC) recompressed by the player. I've never seen one that supported MP3 compression. Or did you mean native playback from sd cards/usb sticks?
- scns 5y ago
  Had my music on my phone as opus. Did not work on the bluetooth speaker of a woman i was involved it. Better sound at lower bitrate is worthless if you can't play it.