While MP3 is much more popular for PC and Internet applications, MP2 remains a dominant standard for audio broadcasting.
[8] MPEG-1 Audio Layer 2 encoding was derived from the MUSICAM (Masking pattern adapted Universal Subband Integrated Coding And Multiplexing) audio codec, developed by Centre commun d'études de télévision et télécommunications (CCETT), Philips, and the Institut für Rundfunktechnik (IRT) in 1989 as part of the EUREKA 147 pan-European inter-governmental research and development initiative for the development of a system for the broadcasting of audio and data to fixed, portable or mobile receivers (established in 1987).
[9] MUSICAM was one of the few codecs able to achieve high audio quality at bit rates in the range of 64 to 192 kbit/s per monophonic channel.
[10][11] As a predecessor of the MP3 format and technology, the perceptual codec MUSICAM is based on integer arithmetics 32 subbands transform, driven by a psychoacoustic model.
The implementation of the audio part of this broadcasting system was based on a two chips encoder (one for the subband transform, one for the psychoacoustic model designed by the team of G. Stoll (IRT Germany), later known as Psychoacoustic model I in the ISO MPEG audio standard) and a real time decoder using one Motorola 56001 DSP chip running an integer arithmetics software designed by Y.F.
The simplicity of the corresponding decoder together with the high audio quality of this codec using for the first time a 48 kHz sampling frequency, a 20 bits/sample input format (the highest available sampling standard in 1991, compatible with the AES/EBU professional digital input studio standard) were the main reasons to later adopt the characteristics of MUSICAM as the basic features for an advanced digital music compression codec such as MP3.
However, improvements were made, and the actual MUSICAM algorithm was not used in the final MPEG-1 Audio Layer II standard.
The Eureka Project 147 resulted in the publication of European Standard, ETS 300 401 in 1995, for DAB which now has worldwide acceptance.
[19] In the late 1980s, ISO's Moving Picture Experts Group (MPEG) started an effort to standardize digital audio and video encoding, expected to have a wide range of applications in digital radio and TV broadcasting (later DAB, DMB, DVB), and use on CD-ROM (later Video CD).
[32][33] According to ISO/IEC 11172-3:1993, Section 2.4.2.3: To provide the smallest possible delay and complexity, the (MPEG audio) decoder is not required to support a continuously variable bit rate when in layer I or II.
At 192 kbit/s, it is relatively easy to hear imperfections in critical audio material.All DVD-Video players in PAL countries contain stereo MP2 decoders, making MP2 a possible competitor to Dolby Digital in these markets.
MPEG-1 Audio Layer II is the standard audio format used in the Video CD and Super Video CD formats (VCD and SVCD also support variable bit rate and MPEG Multichannel as added by MPEG-2).