What is MP3

MP3 or MPEG (Motion Pictures Experts Group) Audio Layer 3 uses a lossy compression algorithm that greatly reduces the physical size of the audio file with little or no loss of sound quality.

An MP3s quality can be noted by its Kbps (kilo bits per second).

A standard bitrates is 128 kbps this provides a reasonable quality and file size.

As a general rule, the higher the bitrate the better the quality. Having a better quality has some draw backs such as bigger file size and slower streaming capabilities.

Some people believe that a bitrate of 192 Kbps is equivalent to CD quality but others lean more towards 320 Kbps.

When looking to buy MP3s online look at the bitrate of the album or tracks - ideally they should be 192 kbps or more. Beware as some MP3 sites are providing MP3s at 128 Kbps which is ok but no way CD quality!