The following article covers a topic that has recently moved to center stage - mp3 files. If you've been thinking you need to know more about it, here's your opportunity. MPEG (Motion Picture Experts Group) Layer 3 - file type better known under the name of mp3 - was invented in 1991. Mp3 is digital form of compression audio streams that came to life after 15 years of acoustic research. According to the declaration of engineers from the Fraunhoffer Institute, a pioneer company in the mp3 technology, this system explores the properties of the human ear, trying to maintain the original sound quality, in the boundaries of what is possible. Being so small the mp3 file still has all the perceptible audio details, giving up only those that the human ear cannot hear. Advantages of MP3 Files: 1) Huge Mp3 File Storing Capacity VS Music CD's. Mp3 can make an audio file up to 12 times smaller than the original file. This represents a huge advantage the mp3 file format has over music cd's. For example: Five minutes of music on a CD take up about 40 MB, but if they were in mp3 format they could take only 3, 5 MB. 2) The MP3 Format Provides Good Sound Quality. Although it is not as clear as an audio CD, an mp3 still is an enormous achievement when it comes to sound quality for such a big compression rate. 3) Creating and Distributing a MP3 File is Very Easy. However, although it is simple to create and distribute mp3 files, this does not mean you have the right to give them to others unless you have the right to do so. It is legal to make a back-up mp3 file out of an audio CD you bought, but it is illegal to give someone copies of those mp3's. To Sum Up: In less than 10 months from the launch, mp3 immediately declared itself as the most performing audio format on the web. And it is no wonder: the sound is excellent, mp3 downloads are fast, and the variety of the products available in this format is overwhelming. And for some, mp3 file downloads are a dream come true, for others the worst nightmare. In the confusion caused by technological revolution, we still cannot afford not to know what is legal and what is not. Recording companies have suffered great losses because of illegal mp3 downloads.