Sampling and Bit Rate

Equivalent to the common audio systems three different sampling rates are defined: 32, 44.1 and 48 kHz. They correspond with the audio sources radio (FM), CD and DAT.

Bit rates (data transfer rates) may be selected in a wide range. The internal header specification of MPEG allows the usage of the following rates:

Index	Layer I	Layer II	Layer III
0	free format	free format	free format
1	32 kbit/s	32 kbit/s	32 kbit/s
2	64 kbit/s	48 kbit/s	40 kbit/s
3	96 kbit/s	56 kbit/s	48 kbit/s
4	128 kbit/s	64 kbit/s	56 kbit/s
5	160 kbit/s	80 kbit/s	64 kbit/s
6	192 kbit/s	96 kbit/s	80 kbit/s
7	224 kbit/s	112 kbit/s	96 kbit/s
8	256 kbit/s	128 kbit/s	112 kbit/s
9	288 kbit/s	160 kbit/s	128 kbit/s
10	320 kbit/s	192 kbit/s	160 kbit/s
11	352 kbit/s	224 kbit/s	192 kbit/s
12	384 kbit/s	256 kbit/s	224 kbit/s
13	416 kbit/s	320 kbit/s	256 kbit/s
14	448 kbit/s	384 kbit/s	320 kbit/s

According to the specification there are some restrictions regarding the combination of bit rates and operation mode, which concern Layer II.

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