MP3 stands for MPEG 1 (Motion Picture Experts Group) Layer 3. It's a digital audio compression format built from over 15 years of psycho-acoustical research. MP3 squishes down sound files 10-15 times smaller than a parent file. And yet that tiny .mp3 file retains most of the perceived audio fidelity by stripping out the waveforms that the human ear doesn't process. Not nearly CD-quality -- do an "a to b" comparison on headphones and you will quickly unsubscribe from that myth -- MP3 is nonetheless a tremendous breakthough in terms of sound quality for a high compression rate. Culturally and economically, this little file format has thrown open new vistas of commercial possibilities, altered our music listening habits, and brought concerns about piracy violently to the forefront of our attention.

Amid the confusion of this technological revolution we can't afford to lose track of what's legal and what's not. Record companies are serving papers to individual audio pirates left and right (record companies also still sue other companies, don't forget). Luckily for those who create their own music, the laws are quite simple.

You have every right to encode your own composition to .mp3 format and distribute it on the Internet. Just make sure that you solely own the rights and permissions to the composition.

It is also legal to encode MP3s of music that you've bought for personal use for home listening, but it's illegal to give anyone copies. Do not upload such MP3s to a publically accessible webserver.

For answers to further questions about the MP3 technology, piracy, and copyright infringement, read MP3: Ethical and Legal Issues on Webmonkey. For discussion of formats and technical issues, join the Technology mailing list.

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