As of 23rd April 2017 the MP3 file format is no longer covered by patents

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Link: As of 23^rd April 2017 the MP3 file format is no longer covered by patents [Fraunhofer Institute for Integrated Circuits]

 

On April 23, 2017, Technicolor's mp3 licensing program for certain mp3 related patents and software of Technicolor and Fraunhofer IIS has been terminated.

 

We thank all of our licensees for their great support in making mp3 the defacto audio codec in the world, during the past two decades.

 

The development of mp3 started in the late 80s at Fraunhofer IIS, based on previous development results at the University Erlangen-Nuremberg. Although there are more efficient audio codecs with advanced features available today, mp3 is still very popular amongst consumers. However, most state-of-the-art media services such as streaming or TV and radio broadcasting use modern ISO-MPEG codecs such as the AAC family or in the future MPEG-H. Those can deliver more features and a higher audio quality at much lower bitrates compared to mp3.

 

For more information about mp3’s successful history, please visit The mp3 History

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The Register has done an obituary here: MP3 'died' and nobody noticed ? The Register