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Witness History: Invention of the MP3

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Invention of the MP3

27/01/2023 GMT

BBC World Service - Witness History, Invention of the MP3

It took Karlheinz Brandenburg and his team more than a decade to perfect MP3 technology

The MP3 compressed music into a file size that made it easier to transmit. Karlheinz Brandenburg from Germany worked on its development for more then a decade until 1995.

Professor Karlheinz Brandenburg from Germany spent more than a decade developing MP3 technology, which was developed to convert audio into digital form.

He had been working on it since 1982.

It compressed music into a file size that made it easier to transmit, leading to the first MP3 players and fast music sharing.

Laura Jones has been speaking to Professor Brandenburg.

(Photo: Karlheinz Brandenburg wearing headphones, with his team. Credit: Fraunhofer IIC)

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