File compression format found to alter timbre of music causing loss of some emotional context
A small team of researchers with Hong Kong University has found that compressing recorded music into the MP3 format results in the loss of emotional tones, leaving the result with less depth.
...romantic, calm, comic, heroic and happy were noticeably less present after files had been compressed into the MP3 format. They noted also that some instruments were more impacted than others—trumpets, for example, were found to have lost the most emotional timbre while other horns were impacted the least.
The researchers suggest that those people who are the most serious about tonal quality should limit their exposure to songs compressed into the MP3 format. They also suggest that the current trend in popular music toward growl-like tones or angry lyrics might have arisen due to their ability to translate well into the compressed file format.
See the full story here: https://techxplore.com/news/2016-12-compression-format-timbre-music-loss.html