MPEGi

MPEGI, also known as the Motion Picture Experts Group Layer I, is a part of the MPEG-1 standard. It defines a relatively simple audio compression algorithm that was developed by the Moving Picture Experts Group. MPEGI was designed to provide acceptable audio quality for a wide range of applications, particularly for storing and transmitting digital video and audio.

The MPEGI audio compression method is based on psychoacoustic principles, meaning it takes advantage of the limitations of human hearing to reduce the amount of data required to represent the sound. It divides the audio signal into subbands and quantifies them based on their perceived importance. Less important components, which are less likely to be heard by humans, are represented with fewer bits, leading to data reduction.

MPEGI offers three different bitrates: layer I, layer II, and layer III. Layer I is the simplest and provides the lowest compression ratio and audio quality among the three. Layer II offers improved compression and quality over Layer I, while Layer III, commonly known as MP3, provides the highest compression and best audio quality of the MPEG-1 audio layers. Despite its simplicity, MPEGI Layer I was a significant step in the development of digital audio compression and paved the way for more advanced codecs. It is often associated with early digital audio broadcasting and video formats where computational power was more limited.