Dr. Karlheinz Brandenburg is owed much of the credit for the development of digital audio compression. Because of this he is often referred to as the “Father of MP3.” Born in Erlangen, Germany in 1954, Karlheinz Brandenburg attended Erlangen University where he studied Mathematics and Electrical Engineering, earning degrees in both sciences.

Dr. Brandenburg began working on digital music compression in 1980s while he attended Erlangen-Nuremburg University. Obtaining a PhD in Electrical Engineering in 1989, Dr. Brandenburg’s doctoral thesis on the Optimum Coding in the frequency domain (OCF) algorithm includes a number of characteristics present in the MP3 technology it helped to create.

From 1989 to 1990, Dr. Brandenburg worked for AT&T Bell Laboratories in Murray Hill, NJ on ASPEC and MPEG Layer 3. In 1990 he returned to Erlangen, where he worked on the development of the MP3 codec with the Fraunhofer Institute, later becoming the head of the audio/multimedia department of Fraunhofer IIS in 1993. Working to evaluate the MP3 compression algorithm, Dr. Brandenburg used a CD recording of Suzanne Vega’s “Tom’s Diner.”

Brandenburg is a Fellow of the Audio Engineering Society (AES) and head of the AES Standards Committee working group SC-06-04 Internet Audio Delivery Systems. He has been granted 27 U.S. patents as a co-inventor. Dr. Brandenburg has received a number of awards including the AES Silver Medal Award (1998), the German Internet Award NEO (2001) and the IEEE Engineering Excellence Award (2000).

Dr. Brandenburg’s contributions to the MP3 audio format are unquestionable, and the format’s popularity is increasing with millions of users worldwide. These users enjoy the format while at home, in the car, at work, and can be found on PCs, mobile phones, personal music players, and PDAs. The MP3 format has revolutionized the music industry and our lives, as we are presented with new methods of marketing, new business models and state of the art devices making use of this remarkable technology.