How does MP3 work?
As a form of compression, MP3 is based on a psycho-acoustic model which recognizes that the human ear cannot hear all the audio frequencies on a recording. The human hearing range is between 20Hz to 20Khz and it is most sensitive between 2 to 4 KHz. When sound is compressed into an MP3 file, an attempt is made to get rid of the frequencies that can’t be heard. As such, this is known as ‘destructive’ compression. After a file is compressed, the data that is eliminated in the creation of the MP3 cannot be replaced.
