ISO-MPEG Audio Layer 3 software only Encoder and Decoder for PCs
Version 1.00.

copyright Fraunhofer - IIS 1994

- evaluate highest quality perceptual audio compression technique
  available today
- software only encoder and decoder implementations
- implements ISO/MPEG Audio standard ISO/IEC IS 11172-3, Layer 3
     (restriction: no support of Layer I and II, no realtime)
- wide range of compression ratios including
      6:1   fully transparent quality 
     11:1   64 kbps per channel, very high quality
     16:1   still better than your average 16 bit 44.1 kHz sound card 
- music data is input in raw format (16 bit signed integer) or
  in RIFF/WAVE format as used by Microsoft Windows .WAV files
- 44.1kHz sampling frequency (look for 32 kHz and 48 kHz in the near future)
- packed bit stream conforming to ISO/MPEG Layer III
- output of decoder is in raw format (16 bit signed integer) or in 
  RIFF/WAVE format as used by Microsoft Windows .WAV files
- .WAV music files can be played with Windows Media Player.
- optional decoder output as 24 bit hex ascii data
- written by the very same people at Fraunhofer-IIS who did the 
  Layer III codecs for the ISO and ITU-R (former CCIR) tests 
  (best sound quality at low bit rates at all listening tests).
- commercial real time products for encoding and/or decoding of 
  Layer III are available. Contact one of the companies listed 
  in the file info.txt.

The package consists of the following files
   
   L3ENC.EXE      encoder program
   L3DEC.EXE      decoder program 
   manual.txt     instructions for encoder and decoder programs
   register.txt   information on registration. PLEASE READ THIS!
   info.txt       infos on ISO MPEG Layer III and Layer III products
   readme.txt     this file
   history.txt    infos on the history of this shareware product

L3ENC uses one of the dos extenders EMX.EXE or RSX.EXE. These dos extenders
are NOT written by Fraunhofer IIS. They are supplied together with the 
Layer 3 shareware package for convenience. The files are:
   
   emxrt.zip      contains emx.exe
   dpmigcc3.zip   contains rsx.exe

Please read the documentation and copyright infos accompanying the 
dos extenders.

A demo Layer 3 bitstream "bstr100.l3" is also available (about 1 MB for
1 minute of stereo music at 128 kBit/s, 44.1 kHz sampling frequency)

The song used for BSTR100.L3 is named "funky" and was composed and 
arranged by Juergen Herre. "Funky" is copyright Juergen Herre 1994.
You may use "Funky" for all evaluation purposes of this shareware product.
You may not use "Funky" for commercial purposes (e.g. radio broadcasting).
BSTR100.L3 was encoded using the encoder of this shareware package.

This package is distributed as shareware. You may work with the package for
30 days for evaluation purposes. If you want to use this package after the
evaluation period, you are required to register the package (see information
in the file REGISTER.TXT). You may give copies of this package to other 
people as long as no file is changed and no file is omitted.

The programms are written for IBM-PCs or Compatibles with MS-Dos. 
They require a 386 type CPU plus hardware floating point support.
Especially for the encoder, a 486DX33 or better is recommended.

On a 486DX2/66 the software-only decoder needs about 3 minutes for the
decoding of 1 minute of stereo audio data. The encoder needs about 
14 minutes to encode a 1 minute audio data file. These figures assume 
coding/decoding of stereo audio material at 44.1 kHz/sec.

If you need further information on Layer 3 products or if you have
any questions concerning this shareware product, please send email to
layer3@iis.fhg.de. 

You can also fax or mail your questions to

   Layer 3 support
   Fraunhofer - IIS
   Am Weichselgarten 3
   D-91058 Erlangen
   Germany

Fax: + 49 9131 / 776 399

A version of this shareware for SUN workstations is also available. On a 
SPARC station 10 the decoder works in real time, the encoder takes about 
5 minutes for the encoding of 1 minute of stereo audio data.


Disclaimer:

Don't forget that there are no warranties associated with this software.
While we believe that our software is reasonably bug free and well behaved,
we are in no way responsible if our software does not work the way you
would expect it to work. No matter if it locks up your computer, garbles
your floppy disks or does any other harmful things to your computer - it
is entirely your problem. 
Fraunhofer - IIS is not liable for any infringments or damages of 
third parties' rights in consequencs of your use of this shareware 
product. Fraunhofer - IIS is in no event liable for, respectively does 
not warrant the trustworthiness, quality, industrial exploitability, 
serviceability of this shareware product for the supposed purpose 
or any other purposes.


All brand names are registered trade marks of their respective owners.
