What does it mean that MP3 is free?

Original Article ↗ Hacker News Discussion ↗

Ongoing relevance of MP3

  • Many argue MP3 is far from obsolete: tiny files, “good enough” quality, and near‑universal playback keep it dominant, especially for legacy devices and cars.
  • Others note that typical users haven’t manually downloaded MP3s in years; streaming has replaced file‑based listening for most people.

Competing formats: AAC, FLAC, Opus, Vorbis

  • AAC-LC and HE-AAC are described as widely supported and, according to some, now effectively patent‑free; at common streaming bitrates (160–320 kbps) AAC and MP3 are similar in size.
  • FLAC is valued for being lossless and space‑cheap on modern drives; some rip CDs only to FLAC, then transcode to a lossy format for phones. Others see FLAC’s complexity and imperfect seeking as unnecessary versus simple PCM or high‑bitrate MP3.
  • Opus is praised as dramatically better than MP3 at low and mid bitrates (e.g., 32 kbps for voice, ~96 kbps for music) but criticized for spotty ecosystem support, especially on Apple platforms.
  • Ogg Vorbis is remembered as technically strong but hampered by poor early software/hardware support and an off‑putting name.

Device compatibility and practical tradeoffs

  • Compatibility is a recurring reason to stick with MP3: old car stereos, portable players, and miscellaneous gadgets reliably support it, while FLAC/Opus often do not.
  • Storage constraints (phones without SD slots) still push some users to lossy formats; others prioritize having one unified collection over juggling lossless + lossy copies.

Patents, “freedom,” and business impact

  • Several note MP3 patents actually expired years ago; the “now” in the article is seen as misleading.
  • Many individuals had long used MP3 encoders/decoders freely; the main impact of patents was on businesses distributing MP3s at scale.
  • Discussion expands to H.264: some patents are expiring now, though the landscape is complex; AV1 is highlighted as a royalty‑free‑by‑design successor, though not guaranteed “patent‑free” in the absolute sense.

UX, branding, and platform quirks

  • FOSS audio adoption issues are linked to poor UX, naming, and marketing (e.g., “Ogg Vorbis,” confusing Linux codec install paths).
  • Apple’s iOS is criticized for making local MP3 management cumbersome compared to Android’s simple file access, even though playback support is longstanding.