Why do the earbuds have the sound files in mp3 format rather than some raw uncompressed format? Doesn't this mean that the earbuds must now have a mp3 decoder?
Is there a resource-usage argument for preferring mp3?
Is there a resource-usage argument for preferring mp3?
Bluetooth headphones already need to manage several formats to decode, and the chipset that does that may also decode mp3, and mp3 is easy to work with to prepare the files.
So why does that decoding chip have mp3 decoding, and why use mp3 when you could just use SBC.
Sure, you could store those clips in a more appropriate codec, but what do you gain? It's dead simple to encode an MP3, every audio editor from the last couple decades can do it. How common is SBC support?
If MP3 decoding is free, and MP3 encoding is free, why bother spending any effort at all on anything else? Sometimes good enough is good enough and cheap and easy wins over correct every time.