Editing MP3 (section)

== Alternative technologies ==
{{listen|filename=Test ogg mp3 48kbps.wav|title=Comparison between MP3 and Vorbis|description=The first is uncompressed WAV file. The second is a Vorbis file encoded at {{nowrap|48 kbit/s}}, and third is an MP3 encoded at {{nowrap|48 kbit/s}} using [[LAME]].}}
{{Main|List of codecs}}

Other lossy formats exist. Among these, [[Advanced Audio Coding]] (AAC) is the most widely used, and was designed to be the successor to MP3. There also exist other lossy formats such as [[mp3PRO]] and [[MPEG-1 Audio Layer II|MP2]]. They are members of the same technological family as MP3 and depend on roughly similar [[Psychoacoustics|psychoacoustic models]] and MDCT algorithms. Whereas MP3 uses a hybrid coding approach that is part MDCT and part [[FFT]], AAC is purely MDCT, significantly improving compression efficiency.<ref name="brandenburg"/> Many of the basic [[patent]]s underlying these formats are held by Fraunhofer Society, Alcatel-Lucent, [[Thomson Consumer Electronics]],<ref name="brandenburg" /> [[Bell Labs|Bell]], [[Dolby]], [[LG Electronics]], [[NEC]], [[NTT Docomo]], [[Panasonic]], [[Sony Corporation]],<ref>{{cite web |title=Via Licensing Announces Updated AAC Joint Patent License |url=https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20090105005026/en/Licensing-Announces-Updated-AAC-Joint-Patent-License |website=[[Business Wire]] |access-date=18 June 2019 |date=5 January 2009 |archive-date=18 June 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190618122721/https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20090105005026/en/Licensing-Announces-Updated-AAC-Joint-Patent-License |url-status=live }}</ref> [[ETRI]], [[JVC Kenwood]], [[Philips]], [[Microsoft]], and [[Nippon Telegraph and Telephone|NTT]].<ref>{{cite web |title=AAC Licensors |url=http://www.via-corp.com/us/en/licensing/aac/licensors.html |website=Via Corp |access-date=6 July 2019 |archive-date=28 June 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190628173314/http://www.via-corp.com/us/en/licensing/aac/licensors.html  }}</ref>

[[Microsoft]] created and promoted their own competing standard, [[Windows Media Audio]] (WMA) with the claim that it is better than MP3.<ref>https://courses.cs.washington.edu/courses/csep590a/06au/projects/standards-wars.pdf</ref> When the digital audio player market was taking off, MP3 was widely adopted as the standard hence the popular name "MP3 player". Sony was an exception and used their own [[ATRAC]] codec taken from their [[MiniDisc]] format, which Sony claimed was better.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1999/09/30/technology/news-watch-new-player-from-sony-will-give-a-nod-to-mp3.html|title=NEWS WATCH; New Player from Sony Will Give a Nod to MP3|newspaper=The New York Times|date=30 September 1999|last1=Marriott|first1=Michel|access-date=24 September 2020|archive-date=3 July 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210703065644/https://www.nytimes.com/1999/09/30/technology/news-watch-new-player-from-sony-will-give-a-nod-to-mp3.html|url-status=live}}</ref> Following criticism and lower than expected [[Walkman]] sales, in 2004 Sony for the first time introduced native MP3 support to its Walkman players.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.cnet.com/reviews/sony-nw-e100-review/|title=Sony NW-E105 Network Walkman|access-date=24 September 2020|archive-date=31 October 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201031221331/https://www.cnet.com/reviews/sony-nw-e100-review/|url-status=live}}</ref>

There are also open compression formats like [[Opus (audio format)|Opus]] and [[Vorbis|Vorbis (OGG)]] that are available free of charge and without any known patent restrictions. Some of the newer audio compression formats, such as AAC, WMA Pro, Vorbis, and Opus, are free of some limitations inherent to the MP3 format that cannot be overcome by any MP3 encoder.<ref name="big-list" /><ref>{{cite conference|eprint=1602.04845|author=Jean-Marc Valin |author2=Gregory Maxwell |author3=Timothy B. Terriberry |author4=Koen Vos |title=High-Quality, Low-Delay Music Coding in the Opus Codec|conference=135th AES Convention|date=October 2013|quote=Its CBR produces packets with exactly the size the encoder requested, without a bit reservoir to imposes additional buffering delays, as found in codecs such as MP3 or AAC-LD. [...] [Tonal noise] is most noticeable in low-bitrate MP3s.}}</ref>

Besides lossy compression methods, [[lossless format]]s are a significant alternative to MP3 because they provide unaltered audio content, though with an increased file size compared to lossy compression. Lossless formats include [[FLAC]] (Free Lossless Audio Codec), [[Apple Lossless]] and many others.