What is mp3?

Later, on July 7, 1994 the Fraunhofer Society released the first software MP3 encoder called l3enc. The filename extension .mp3 was chosen by the Fraunhofer team on July 14, 1995 (previously, the files had been named .bit). With the first real-time software MP3 player Winplay3 (released September 9, 1995) many people were able to encode and playback MP3 files on their PCs. Because of the relatively small hard drives back in that time (c.500 MB) the technology was essential to store non-instrument based (see: tracker and midi) music for listening pleasure on a computer.