Filename extension .amr, .3ga | ||
Internet media type audio/amr, audio/3gpp, audio/3gpp2 Initial release 23 June 1999 (1999-06-23) Latest release 9.0.0
(18 December 2009; 7 years ago (2009-12-18)) Type of format Audio compression format, audio file format | ||
The Adaptive Multi-Rate (AMR or AMR-NB or GSM-AMR) audio codec is an audio compression format optimized for speech coding. AMR speech codec consists of a multi-rate narrowband speech codec that encodes narrowband (200–3400 Hz) signals at variable bit rates ranging from 4.75 to 12.2 kbit/s with toll quality speech starting at 7.4 kbit/s.
Contents
AMR was adopted as the standard speech codec by 3GPP in October 1999 and is now widely used in GSM and UMTS. It uses link adaptation to select from one of eight different bit rates based on link conditions.
AMR is also a file format for storing spoken audio using the AMR codec. Many modern mobile telephone handsets can store short audio recordings in the AMR format, and both free and proprietary programs exist (see Software support) to convert between this and other formats, although AMR is a speech format and is unlikely to give ideal results for other audio. The common filename extension is .amr. There also exists another storage format for AMR that is suitable for applications with more advanced demands on the storage format, like random access or synchronization with video. This format is the 3GPP-specified 3GP container format based on ISO base media file format.
Usage
The frames contain 160 samples and are 20 milliseconds long. AMR uses various techniques, such as ACELP, DTX, VAD and CNG. The usage of AMR requires optimized link adaptation that selects the best codec mode to meet the local radio channel and capacity requirements. If the radio conditions are bad, source coding is reduced and channel coding is increased. This improves the quality and robustness of the network connection while sacrificing some voice clarity. In the particular case of AMR this improvement is somewhere around S/N = 4–6 dB for usable communication. The new intelligent system allows the network operator to prioritize capacity or quality per base station.
There are a total of 14 modes of the AMR codec, eight are available in a full rate channel (FR) and six on a half rate channel (HR).
Features
Licensing and patent issues
AMR codecs incorporate several patents of Nokia, Ericsson, NTT and VoiceAge, the last one being the License Administrator for the AMR patent pools. VoiceAge also accepts submission of patents for determination of their possible essentiality to these standards. However, it's very difficult to determine if there were actually any patents in existence for the so-called inventions related to AMR/AMR-WB codecs, since inventors (and their lawyers) do everything they can to hide patents related to AMR/AMR-WB technology. Apparently, all these patents are hidden from all other researches and general audience that could perhaps spot prior art in the claimed "inventions" patented by the patent holders of the AMR/AMR-WB codecs.
The initial fee for professional content creation tools and "real-time channel" products is US$6,500. The minimum annual royalty is $10,000, which, in the first year, excludes the initial fee. Per-channel license fees fall from $0.99 to $0.50 with volume, up to a maximum of $2 million annually.
In the category of personal computer products, e.g., media players, the AMR decoder is licensed for free. The license fee for a sold encoder falls from $0.40 to $0.30 with volume, up to a maximum of $300,000 annually. The minimum annual royalty is not applied to licensed products that fall under the category of personal computer products and use only the free decoder.
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