MP3 Support Confusion: Truth Behind the Termination and Licensing Changes

  • Thread starter Thread starter Algr
  • Start date Start date
Click For Summary

Discussion Overview

The discussion revolves around the recent changes in licensing related to the MP3 audio format and the implications for its future support in various devices. Participants are exploring the confusion stemming from news articles that suggest MP3 support will diminish due to licensing terminations, while others argue that the expiration of patents allows for free use of the format.

Discussion Character

  • Debate/contested
  • Technical explanation
  • Exploratory

Main Points Raised

  • Some participants note that news articles claim MP3 support will disappear due to the termination of licensing, while others argue that the patents have expired, allowing free use of the format.
  • A participant points out that the articles often misrepresent the situation by stating that the format itself is dead, rather than clarifying that only certain licensing programs have ended.
  • Another participant highlights that despite the emergence of newer audio standards, MP3 may continue to be supported in future software and devices, similar to the ongoing use of the GIF format.
  • Concerns are raised about the credibility of sources claiming the "death" of MP3, questioning which experts are making such assertions and emphasizing that the format is effectively "set free."
  • One participant suggests that the future may see either the continuation of open-source MP3 or a shift to Ogg Vorbis, framing both outcomes as positive developments.

Areas of Agreement / Disagreement

Participants express disagreement regarding the implications of the licensing changes and the future of MP3 support. There is no consensus on whether the termination of licensing signifies the end of MP3 or if it will continue to thrive due to patent expiration.

Contextual Notes

Some participants reference the historical context of patent disputes surrounding MP3, noting that many critical patents had expired by 2012, with the last significant U.S. patent expiring in April 2017. This context may influence interpretations of the current licensing situation.

Algr
Messages
940
Reaction score
473
http://gizmodo.com/developers-of-the-mp3-have-officially-killed-it-1795205540
https://www.macrumors.com/2017/05/15/mp3-format-terminated/

All these news articles are saying that MP3 support in various devices is going to disappear because the maker isn't licencing MP3 any more. But then in the comments people are saying the opposite is true. Licensing programs are being terminated because the patents have expired and everyone can now use it for free. Certainly this is no reason for anyone to remove MP3 support from anything.

What is going on here?
 
Computer science news on Phys.org
The second article said:
This article was edited to note that the patents related to MP3 have expired, not the format itself.
 
Algr said:
All these news articles are saying that MP3 support in various devices is going to disappear because the maker isn't licencing MP3 any more. But then in the comments people are saying the opposite is true. Licensing programs are being terminated because the patents have expired and everyone can now use it for free.

What @SlowThinker said; although many of the news stories as well as the Fraunhofer announcement itself don't actually speak of patent expiration, but only of the company having terminated its licensing program for "certain mp3 related patents"; which is a somewhat different thing, since you can claim a patent and attempt to require licensing, only to have others dispute your claim and disregard your licensing.

This seems a case of "catchy headline virus," where news outlets spread essentially the same misleading headline because it grabs the eye, even if it's inaccurate. Repeated casts of a fishing hook into the Google sea pull up additional stories that make it clear that despite the development of newer audio standards, developers may well keep the MP3 standard alive in future audio software & gear just as the GIF standard for images has been kept alive; see this from CNET: MP3 isn't dead, it's just sleeping

If you look at the Wikipedia article on MP3, the subtopic on licensing asserts that there were many patent disputes throughout the history of developing the standard, but that by 2012, most of the critical European patents for the MP3 standard had already expired; and that even in the U.S. the last remaining patent expired in late April of this year; that one seems likely to be the Technicolor patent mentioned in the Fraunhofer announcement:
The basic MP3 decoding and encoding technology is patent-free in the European Union, all patents having expired there by 2012 at the latest. In the United States, the technology became substantially patent-free on 16 April 2017 . . . If the longest-running patent mentioned in the aforementioned references is taken as a measure, then the MP3 technology became patent-free in the United States on 16 April 2017 when U.S. Patent 6,009,399, held by[74] and administered by Technicolor,[75] expired.
 
Last edited:
This one is even worse:
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencet...rmat-killed-founders-terminate-licensing.html

But the digital audio format has now been killed off by the company that invented it.
The Fraunhofer Institute has officially terminated its licensing programme for certain MP3-related patents.
The move has been dubbed the 'official death warrant' of the MP3 by tech experts.

What "experts" said this. The format is set free, not being killed, and "The company that invented it" did nothing, they have no say in the matter.
 
  • Like
Likes   Reactions: UsableThought
Algr said:
Certainly this is no reason for anyone to remove MP3 support from anything.

What is going on here?
One of two things is going to happen: Open-Source MP3 will champion on or Ogg Vorbis will replace it. Either way, I find it to be a win.
 

Similar threads

Are SSDs susceptible to data corruption from power loss?
  • · Replies 19 ·
Replies
19
Views
15K
Graduate The Kantian Wall - The Meaning of Space, Time, and Mass in Modern Physics
  • · Replies 1 ·
Replies
1
Views
6K