Mp3HD - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

MPEG-1 Audio Layer III HD more commonly known and advertised by its abbreviation mp3HD is an audio compression codec

Codec

A codec is a device or computer program capable of encoding or decoding a digital data stream or signal. The word codec is a portmanteau of "compressor-decompressor" or, more commonly, "coder-decoder"...

developed by Technicolor formerly known as Thomson. It achieves lossless data compression

Lossless data compression

Lossless data compression is a class of data compression algorithms that allows the exact original data to be reconstructed from the compressed data. The term lossless is in contrast to lossy data compression, which only allows an approximation of the original data to be reconstructed, in exchange...

, and is backwards compatible with the MP3

MP3

MPEG-1 or MPEG-2 Audio Layer III, more commonly referred to as MP3, is a patented digital audio encoding format using a form of lossy data compression...

format by storing two data streams in one file.

Development

mp3HD was released in march of 2009 as a lossless competitor to the already popular FLAC, Apple Lossless, and WavPack. In theory, the format provides a convenient container in the form of a single file, which includes the standard lossy stream playable on any mp3-capable device and the lossless data which is stored in the ID3v2 tag. To play the lossless data you need a compatible mp3HD player with decoder otherwise you would be playing just the lossy data. Also, Being a compression method, files produced by the algorithm are substantially smaller than the uncompressed source files, though they are roughly comparable to other similar lossless formats. The format is still in development with Technicolor releasing tools for consumers who are into the format. Sites are saying that it can be the one that achieves mainstream adoption, due to the advantage that the mp3 brand is well known. Since 2009 Technicolor has updated the format and encoding tools to make it more efficient, while also adding a plugin for Winamp

Winamp

Winamp is a media player for Windows-based PCs and Android devices, written by Nullsoft, now a subsidiary of AOL. It is proprietary freeware/shareware, multi-format, extensible with plug-ins and skins, and is noted for its graphical sound visualization, playlist, and media library features.Winamp...

(Windows only), a direct show filter for Windows Media Player

Windows Media Player

Windows Media Player is a media player and media library application developed by Microsoft that is used for playing audio, video and viewing images on personal computers running the Microsoft Windows operating system, as well as on Pocket PC and Windows Mobile-based devices...

, and a mp3HD converter. On October 7,2010 Topspin, a music distributor became the first retailer to start offering mp3HD files, stating that now their customers can have lossless audio without leaving the mp3 format. Technicolor are also saying that the agreement is very important for the growth of the format. Starting June 19, 2011 Technicolor and 10 ambassadors and Sound Souvenirs are doing a marketing campaign where they will transform 10 songs into mp3HD. People get to vote for 100 songs from their top charts which ends July 21 and the top 10 get to be mp3HD files.

Encoding

As of yet, the only thing capable of encoding wav files to mp3HD is the technicolor toolkit which contains a command-line encoder and decoder. This can be used with the Exact Audio Copy

Exact Audio Copy

Exact Audio Copy is a proprietary CD ripping program for Microsoft Windows. It has also been tested to work under newer versions of Wine on Linux...

to rip cd's into WAVE files and then automatically converts them to mp3HD files. Another method, though only with Windows is the mp3HD Converter, which converts already uncompressed WAVE files to mp3HD and can also decompress them back to WAVE files. Currently mp3HD supports CD audio (PCM) at 44.1, 48 kHz sampling rate, 16 bit/sample.

Audio Quality

With the lossless stream, you get 100% bit-exact replica of CD tracks. Average bitrates are around 500kbps to 900kbps depending on genre, similar to other lossless codecs. The lossy stream uses the same bit rates as a normal mp3 file and the lossy portion can even use VBR or CBR depending on the person's preference for compression and quality.

Pros and Cons

Pros

Exact replica of a CD
Lossy/Lossless Hybrid
Size is about the same compared to other lossless formats
Backwards compatible with standard mp3 players
retains .mp3 file extension
Embedded mp3 track and the mp3HD file share the same id3 metadata
Popularity of the mp3 brand

Cons

Not very widespread
Lack of support
Bigger than standard mp3
No quality boost if player only supports standard mp3
The lossless part is stored in an ID3v2 tag.
Size of ID3v2 tags is limited to 256MB by specifications; as a result, lossless part of an mp3hd file can't be larger than 256MB.
Editing certain information in the ID3v2 tag can sometimes result in losing the lossless data stored in the tag, making the mp3HD file a standard MP3.

Products that support mp3HD

Hardware

Samsung IceTouch, Samsung announced that they will be releasing the first mp3 player capable of playing mp3HD lossless part of the format at CES 2010. They were supposed to be released sometime in 2010, but as of April 8,2011 nothing has been released.

Software

Winamp w/ plugin (Windows Only)
Windows Media Player w/ direct show filter
mp3/HD/surround/SX player (Windows and Mac)

Alternative Technologies

Lossy

MP3
MP3
MPEG-1 or MPEG-2 Audio Layer III, more commonly referred to as MP3, is a patented digital audio encoding format using a form of lossy data compression...
MP3 Surround
MP3 Surround
MP3 Surround is an extension of MP3 for multi-channel audio support including 5.1 surround sound. It was developed by Fraunhofer IIS in collaboration with Thomson and Agere Systems, and released in December 2004....
AAC
Advanced Audio Coding
Advanced Audio Coding is a standardized, lossy compression and encoding scheme for digital audio. Designed to be the successor of the MP3 format, AAC generally achieves better sound quality than MP3 at similar bit rates....
OGG
Vorbis
Vorbis is a free software / open source project headed by the Xiph.Org Foundation . The project produces an audio format specification and software implementation for lossy audio compression...

Lossless