The German Fraunhofer institutes behind the development of MP3, stopped the licensing program for patents on this codec and actually acknowledged his death.
According to the developers, though MP3 is still popular among users, most of services, such as streamingmovie channels, TV and radio broadcasting, use more modern codecs ISO MPEG such as AAC or MPEG-H. They can provide higher sound quality at lower bitrates compared to MP3.
MP3, short for MPEG-2 Audio Layer III, was first published in 1993, and development was carried out since the late 80-ies. 23 April 2017 the validity of the related patents have expired and license fees no longer charged.