In 1988 the International Standardization Organization (ISO) established the Motion Picture Expert Group (MPEG) to develop a digital coding standard for video and audio signals in order to enable interactive video and audio signals on digital storage media. The MPEG Audio Group started with members from 14 research institutions in order to develop a digital audio coding standard guided by a chairman. As a result the MPEG-1, Layer I, Layer II and Layer III coding standards have been developed and proposed for coding of stereo audio signals at 2 times 192 kbit/s, 2 times 128 kbit/s and 2 times 64 kbit/s in 1992. Later, the abbreviation "mp3" or "MP3" was introduced in order to substitute the long name of the successful MPEG-1, Layer III coding standard. This paper describes the development of the MP3 coding standard and its essential components as contributed by the members of the MPEG Audio Group