Tuesday 16 March 2010

From Freedom Came Elegance

What is Ogg?
Ogg is professional-grade media format. Ogg Vorbis encodes audio and Ogg Theora encodes video.
When you see a file with the Ogg extension—musicfile.ogg—Play it!
In addition to lossy codecs like Theora, there are also free codecs for lossless video, for editing or archival purposes.

How do I use Ogg?

If you're using a recent Mozilla-based browser, you don't need an external media player. You can play Ogg inside your browser!
If you need a standalone media player, many different free software players work with Ogg. We like one called VLC Media Player (http://www.videolan.org/).

Why use Ogg?
No Patent Restrictions!

Unlike MP3, Ogg Vorbis is not restricted by patents. Microsoft had to pay $1.5 billion after being sued for using MP3 without a license. With Ogg Vorbis, they would have been safe!

These patent lawsuits might never affect you directly, but they create a culture where creative and skilled individuals cannot develop multimedia software without fear of being legally attacked. Using Ogg is one way to support them in their efforts and to encourage a better culture.

Choose Free Software!

RealPlayer, Windows Media Player, and other popular formats require people to use non-free software: controlled by companies, not by the users. The companies that control the software design it to restrict the users and spy on them. If you choose Ogg Vorbis and Ogg Theora, you can listen to audio and stream video using many different media players, including free software that respects your freedom.

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