How does AAC compare with MP3?

Dolby‘s AAC is a newer-generation technology that achieves audio quality equivalent to or higher than MP3 at significantly lower bit rates (or better sound at the same bit rates). Of course sound quality is subjective in nature so users will have to decide how much improvement there really is themselves, but in theory the results are a more reliable and better-sounding streaming audio experience for both dial-up and broadband subscribers. AAC is a new audio coding technology based on MPEG-2 and MPEG-4 AAC that supports data rates from 14 kbps (mono) to 128 kbps (stereo) and up. It remains to be seen whether AAC will become as popular as MP3.