Editing Advanced Audio Coding (section)

=== Adoption ===
While the MP3 format has near-universal hardware and software support, primarily because MP3 was the format of choice during the crucial first few years of widespread music [[file-sharing]]/distribution over the internet, AAC remained a strong contender due to some unwavering industry support.<ref>{{cite web |title=AAC |url=http://wiki.hydrogenaud.io/index.php?title=AAC |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140706172307/http://wiki.hydrogenaud.io/index.php?title=AAC |archive-date=2014-07-06 |access-date=2011-01-24 |publisher=Hydrogenaudio}}</ref> Due to MP3's dominance, adoption of AAC was initially slow. The first commercialization was in 1997 when [[AT&T Labs]] (a co-owner of AAC patents) launched a digital music store with songs encoded in MPEG-2 AAC.<ref name=":2">{{Cite web |date=2001-08-08 |title=News: A higher standard for digital music |website=[[ZDNet]] |url=https://www.zdnet.com/zdnn/stories/comment/0,5859,2699666,00.html |access-date=2025-04-11 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20010808234826/https://www.zdnet.com/zdnn/stories/comment/0,5859,2699666,00.html |archive-date=8 August 2001 }}</ref> HomeBoy for Windows was one of the earliest available AAC encoders and decoders.<ref>{{Cite web |title=ReallyRareWares - HomeBoy AAC encoder |url=https://www.rarewares.org/rrw/homeboy.php |access-date=2025-04-11 |website=www.rarewares.org}}</ref>

[[Dolby Laboratories]] came in charge of AAC licensing in 2000.<ref name=":2" /> A new licensing model was launched by Dolby in 2002, while [[Nokia]] became a fifth co-licenser of the format.<ref>{{Cite web |last=RadioWorld |date=2002-03-26 |title=Dolby Laboratories Reveals MPEG-4 AAC Licensing Program |url=https://www.radioworld.com/news-and-business/dolby-laboratories-reveals-mpeg4-aac-licensing-program |access-date=2025-04-11 |website=Radio World |language=en-US}}</ref> Dolby itself also marketed its own coding format, [[Dolby AC-3]].

Nokia started supporting AAC playback on devices as early as 2001,<ref>{{Cite web |title=Carrying A Tune With Nokia Phones |url=https://www.forbes.com/2001/08/30/0830tentech.html |access-date=2025-04-11 |website=Forbes |language=en}}</ref> but it was the exclusive use of AAC by Apple Computer for their [[iTunes Store]] which accelerated attention to AAC. Soon the format was also supported by Sony for their [[PlayStation Portable]] (albeit Sony continued promoting its proprietary [[ATRAC]]), and music-oriented cell phones from [[Sony Ericsson]] beginning with the [[Sony Ericsson W800]].<ref>{{Cite magazine |author=WIRED Staff |title=A Music File by Any Other Name |url=https://www.wired.com/2005/12/a-music-file-by-any-other-name/ |access-date=2025-04-11 |magazine=Wired |language=en-US |issn=1059-1028}}</ref> The [[Windows Media Audio]] (WMA) format, from Microsoft, was considered to be AAC's main competitor.<ref>{{Cite magazine |last=Buskirk |first=Eliot Van |title=In EMI-ITunes Deal, the Big Loser May Be Microsoft |url=https://www.wired.com/2007/04/in-emi-itunes-deal-the-big-loser-may-be-microsoft/ |access-date=2025-04-11 |magazine=Wired |language=en-US |issn=1059-1028}}</ref>

By 2017, AAC was considered to have become a ''de facto'' industry standard for lossy audio.<ref>{{Cite web |author1=What Hi-Fi Admin |date=2017-05-15 |title=Home |url=https://www.whathifi.com/news/mp3-dead-creators-end-licensing-programme |access-date=2025-04-11 |website=whathifi |language=en}}</ref>