Song compressed to 21KB, stored on paper via eight QR codes

A creator known as Makestreme has developed a novel method for storing digital music in a physical format. The technique involves compressing an approximately 2-minute, 2.9MB MP3 song down to just 21KB. This highly compressed data was then divided into eight QR codes and printed onto paper.

This method does not rely on traditional MP3 compression. Instead, it utilizes Meta AI's EnCodec neural audio codec, which converts audio waveforms into discrete, encoded tokens. Makestreme employed EnCodec's 3 kbps mode, achieving a reduction of over 99.9% in file size.

To play the music from the paper, Meta AI's EnCodec decoder is required to convert the tokens back into audible sound. Tests indicated that audio quality at 3 kbps remained reasonably good, though lowering the bitrate to 1.5 kbps resulted in a noticeable decline in quality.

Each QR code can hold approximately 3.3KB of data. Therefore, 21KB of data required eight codes, printed on both sides of a single sheet of paper. A significant limitation is the low error correction capability; damage to even one QR code could prevent the entire song from being recovered.

While the method offers a unique approach to long-term digital data preservation, its playback dependency on a specific AI decoder and the potential for data loss due to QR code damage are notable drawbacks. This experiment explores physical data storage, reminiscent of earlier technologies like the 1980s Softstrip system.