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What is the difference between "data length" and MTU?

I want to use BLE 4.2 Data length extension to stuff more data into one packet. I am looking at the "ble_app_att_mtu_throughput" example and am getting confused because there is both a NRF_BLE_GATT_EVT_ATT_MTU_UPDATED event and a NRF_BLE_GATT_EVT_DATA_LENGTH_UPDATED event.

/**@brief Function for handling events from the GATT library. */
static void gatt_evt_handler(nrf_ble_gatt_t * p_gatt, nrf_ble_gatt_evt_t const * p_evt)
{
    switch (p_evt->evt_id)
    {
        case NRF_BLE_GATT_EVT_ATT_MTU_UPDATED:
        {
            m_mtu_exchanged = true;
            NRF_LOG_INFO("ATT MTU exchange completed. MTU set to %u bytes.",
                         p_evt->params.att_mtu_effective);
        } break;

        case NRF_BLE_GATT_EVT_DATA_LENGTH_UPDATED:
        {
            m_data_length_updated = true;
            NRF_LOG_INFO("Data length updated to %u bytes.", p_evt->params.data_length);
        } break;
    }

    nrf_ble_amts_on_gatt_evt(&m_amts, p_evt);
}

I thought "data length" = MTU - 3. If so, then why are there two event types, and why is there a voided function "nrf_ble_gatt_data_length_set" here? 

void data_len_ext_set(bool status)
{
    m_test_params.data_len_ext_enabled = status;

    uint8_t data_length = status ? (247 + L2CAP_HDR_LEN) : (23 + L2CAP_HDR_LEN);
    (void) nrf_ble_gatt_data_length_set(&m_gatt, BLE_CONN_HANDLE_INVALID, data_length);
}

Especially confusing is this line in amts.c, which suggests data length = MTU - 3

void nrf_ble_amts_on_gatt_evt(nrf_ble_amts_t * p_ctx, nrf_ble_gatt_evt_t const * p_gatt_evt)
{
    if (p_gatt_evt->evt_id == NRF_BLE_GATT_EVT_ATT_MTU_UPDATED)
    {
        p_ctx->max_payload_len =
            p_gatt_evt->params.att_mtu_effective - OPCODE_LENGTH - HANDLE_LENGTH;
    }
}

My current project outputs this. MTU = 140. Does that mean I can assume my data length is 140 - 3  = 137? 

<debug> ble_gatt: Data length updated to 27 on connection 0x0.
<debug> ble_gatt: max_rx_octets: 27
<debug> ble_gatt: max_tx_octets: 27
<debug> ble_gatt: max_rx_time: 328
<debug> ble_gatt: max_tx_time: 328
<info> app: Data length updated to 27 bytes.
<info> app: Bonding...
<info> app: Connection secured: role: 1, conn_handle: 0x0, procedure: 0.
<debug> ble_gatt: ATT MTU updated to 140 bytes on connection 0x0 (response).
<info> app: ATT MTU exchange completed. MTU set to 140 bytes.

SDK 14.0.0

Softdevice S132 5.0.0

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