Do you know the differences between Mp3 and Mp4?
Music and video files
The differences between mp3 and mp4 are many, since, although at first glance we might think one is the evolution of the other, they refer to different types of files
The main difference between mp3 and mp4 is that each type of file was created for completely different purposes: mp3 for all kinds of music and mp4 for video files multimedia and, therefore, as a container format for video, audio, and subtitles.
Also, the standards for mp3 and mp4 are different.
Main differences: MP3 and MP4
The mp3 file, which arose due to the problem of the space occupied on devices by audio files in .WAV or .AIFF format, serves to store music or sounds of any kind.
The main drawback of using the mp3 format, despite its widespread use, is that it has always been considered that compressing the audio into a file that takes up less space causes losses in sound quality.
Mp3 is the abbreviation for MPEG-1 Audio Layer 3; what it does to reduce the size of the original audio file is, once the audio has been recorded at all possible frequencies, to cut the “excess” fragments of frequencies audible to our human ears below and/or above.
This technique allows reducing the weight of the original audio file and, although it is not considered a sound in “high fidelity”, it is acceptable for situations where we are simply going to listen to music in a non-professional setting.
Above all, mp3 becomes essential when storing large amounts of music... Although, perhaps, the use of streaming music players like Spotify has led to a gradual loss of the need to compress audio files for those who want to listen to music on their audio devices anywhere.
However, there are still people who listen to their downloaded and stored music files on their devices as mp3, mp4 (the format we will see later), the smartphone, tablet or computer.
Also, it should not be forgotten that the popularization of files in mp3 format allowed the leap to portable music on a large scale, something that until then could only be done with the already “vintage” discman, walkman...
Do you know the differences between Mp3 and Mp4?
Another great difference between mp3 and mp4 is the multimedia nature of the latter. That is, mp3 only serves to play music, while mp4 is a container format that can include music files like mp3, video, and subtitles.
These files, in turn, can be encoded in different formats that can be adapted to the implementation made of the resulting file after combining the original files.
The formats generally used are AAC for audio, and H264 MPEG for video; both have a good compression/quality ratio.
MP4 is the abbreviation for MPEG-4 Part 14 and is based on the specifications of the MOV video format developed by Apple.
Thus, we can see that the differences between mp3 and mp4 mark the different functions for which the devices with the same name are intended.
Mp3 is only intended to store and play audio files in the same format. Mp4, on the other hand, can play and store, besides songs, videos with subtitles or films.
