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About MP2 Files

An .mp2 file is an audio file saved in the MPEG-1 Audio Layer II (MP2) compressed audio format. It features lossy audio data compression with minimal quality loss by removing inaudible sound data and preserving frequency ranges.

The International Organization for Standardization (ISO) and the International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC) introduced the MP2 format in 1991 as part of the MPEG-1 standard for compressing audio and video data. While the MP3 audio format is more common for general consumer use, MP2 became common in professional radio and television broadcasting (especially in Europe) due to its high-quality audio preservation at lower bitrates. Because of this adoption, various hardware and broadcasting systems in professional environments still support the format despite being old, and more recent audio formats offer advanced compression techniques.

Converting MP2 Files

While many media players support .mp2 files, you may want to convert them to MP3 format for broader support. MP3 compression typically results in smaller file sizes than .mp2 files and leads to a slight quality loss, especially at lower bitrates, which may be noticeable for high-fidelity audio.

You can also convert .mp2 files to the AAC format, which generally results in better sound quality than MP3 at similar bitrates, making it a good option for streaming and storage. However, the AAC format may not be as universally compatible as MP3 on some older devices, and converting to AAC may lead to minor quality degradation from the original .mp2 file due to re-compression.