Jump to content

Xiph.Org Foundation

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
(Redirected fromOpenCodecs)

Xiph.Org Foundation
Founded1994;30 years ago(1994)
FounderChristopher Montgomery
Type501(c)(3)
Location
Area served
Worldwide
ProductsFreemultimediaformats, libraries, and streaming software
Key people
Christopher Montgomery,Jack Moffitt,Ralph Giles (Theora), Jean-Marc Valin (Speex,CELT,Opus),[1]Josh Coalson (FLAC), Michael Smith, Timothy B. Terriberry[2][3][4][5]
Websitexiph.org

Xiph.Org Foundationis anonprofit organizationthat producesfreemultimediaformats and software tools. It focuses on theOggfamily of formats, the most successful of which has beenVorbis,an open and freely licensed audio format andcodecdesigned to compete with the patentedWMA,MP3andAAC.As of 2013, development work was focused onDaala,an open and patent-free video format and codec designed to compete withVP9and the patentedHigh Efficiency Video Coding.

In addition to its in-house development work, the foundation has also brought several already-existing but complementaryfree softwareprojects under its aegis, most of which have a separate, active group of developers. These includeSpeex,an audio codec designed for speech, andFLAC,a lossless audio codec.

The Xiph.Org Foundation has criticizedMicrosoftand theRIAAfor their lack of openness.[6]They state that if companies like Microsoft had ownedpatentson the Internet, then other companies would have tried to compete, and "The Net, as designed by warring corporate entities, would be a battleground of incompatible and expensive 'standards' had it actually survived at all." They also criticize the RIAA for their support of projects such as theSecure Digital Music Initiative.

In 2008, theFree Software Foundationlisted the Xiph.Org projects asHigh Priority Free Software Projects.[7]

History

[edit]

Chris Montgomery,creator of theOggcontainer format, founded the Xiphophorus company and later the Xiph.Org Foundation.[8]The first work that became the Ogg media projects started in 1994.[9]The name "Xiph" abbreviates the original organizational name, "Xiphophorus", named after thecommon swordtailfish,Xiphophorus hellerii.[10]It was officially incorporated on 15 May 1996 as Xiphophorus, Inc.[11]The name "Xiphophorus company" was used until 2002,[12][13][14]when it was renamed to Xiph.Org Foundation.[15]

In 1999, the Xiphophorus company defined itself on its website as"a distributed group of Free and Open Source programmers working to protect the foundations of Internet multimedia from domination by self-serving corporate interests."[16]

In 2002, the Xiph.Org Foundation defined itself on its website as"a non-profit corporation dedicated to protecting the foundations of Internet multimedia from control by private interests."[15]

In March 2003, the Xiph.Org Foundation was recognized by theIRSas a 501(c)(3) Non-Profit Organization,[17]which means that U.S. citizens can deduct donations made to Xiph.Org from their taxes.

Xiph.Org Foundation projects

[edit]
  • Ogg– a multimediacontainer format,areference implementation,and the native file and stream format for the Xiph.org multimedia codecs
    • Vorbis– a lossyaudio compressionformat and codec
    • Theora– a lossyvideo coding formatand codec
    • FLAC– a lossless audio compression format and software
    • Speex– a lossyspeech encodingformat and software (deprecated)
    • CELT– an ultra-low delay lossy audio compression format that has been merged into Opus, and is now obsolete
    • Opus– a low delay lossy audio compression format originally intended forVoIP
    • Tremor– an integer-only implementation of the Vorbis audio decoder for embedded devices (software)
    • OggPCM– an encapsulation ofPCM audiodata inside the Ogg container format
    • Skeleton – a structuring information for multi-track Ogg files (a logical bitstream within an Ogg stream)[18]
    • RTPpayloads – containers for Vorbis, Theora, Speex and Opus.
    • CMML– an XML-based markup language for time-continuous data (a timed text codec; deprecated)
    • Ogg Squish– a lossless audio compression format and software (discontinued)
    • Tarkin– an experimental lossy video coding format; no stable release (discontinued)[19]
    • Daala– avideo coding formatand codec[20]
    • Kate – an overlay codec that can carry animated text and images.
  • libao – an audio-output library that operates on different platforms[21]
  • Annodex– an encapsulation format, which interleaves time-continuous data with CMML markup in a streamable manner
  • Icecast– an open source multi-platform streaming server (software)
  • Ices– a source client for broadcasting in Ogg Vorbis or MP3 format to an icecast2 server (software)
  • IceShare – an unfinished peercasting system for Ogg multimedia (no longer maintained)
  • cdparanoia– an open sourceCD Audioextraction tool that aims to be bit-perfect (currently unmaintained)
  • XSPF– an XML Shareable Playlist Format

OpenCodecs

[edit]

OpenCodecsis a software package for Windows adding DirectShow filters for theTheoraandWebMcodecs. It adds Theora and WebM support toWindows Media Playerand enablesHTML videoinInternet Explorer.It consists of:

  • dshow,Xiph'sDirectShowfilters for their suite ofOggformats, including Theora andVorbis
  • webmdshow,the DirectShow filter for WebM maintained by the WebM project
  • AnActiveXplugin adding HTML video capability to Internet Explorer older than version 9

QuickTime Components

[edit]

Xiph QuickTime Componentsare implementations of theOggcontainer along with theSpeex,Theora,FLACandVorbiscodecsforQuickTime.It allows users to use Ogg files in any application that uses QuickTime for audio and video file support, such asiTunesandQuickTime Player.

Since QuickTime Components do not function inmacOS Sierraand above, the project was discontinued in 2016.[22]

References

[edit]
  1. ^Xiph.Orgpeople.xiph.org - personal webspace of the xiphs - Jean-Marc Valin,Retrieved 2009-09-11
  2. ^Timothy B. Terriberry (2009)."people.xiph.org - Timothy B. Terriberry, Ph.D."Xiph.Org.RetrievedSeptember 11,2009.
  3. ^"Summer of Code Mentoring".Xiph.Org. 2009.RetrievedSeptember 11,2009.
  4. ^"Minutes of the Xiph.org Monthly Meeting for May 2003".May 10, 2003.RetrievedSeptember 11,2009.
  5. ^"Minutes of the Xiph.org Monthly Meeting for September 2003".Xiph.Org. September 16, 2003.RetrievedSeptember 11,2009.
  6. ^"About".xiph.org.RetrievedMarch 5,2011.
  7. ^ "High Priority Free Software Projects".Free Software Foundation.RetrievedAugust 25,2008.
  8. ^ "Xiph.org: Contact information".Xiph.org.RetrievedAugust 25,2008.
  9. ^ "A Challenger to MP3?".Tristan Louis. January 16, 2001. Archived fromthe originalon June 17, 2013.RetrievedSeptember 2,2008.
  10. ^ "naming".Xiph.org.Archivedfrom the original on February 2, 2012.RetrievedAugust 25,2008.
  11. ^"XIPHOPHORUS, INC.:: Massachusetts (US)".OpenCorporates.RetrievedNovember 6,2022.
  12. ^ Brian Zisk (April 19, 2000)."vorbis - Dvorak Interviews Monty".RetrievedSeptember 4,2008.
  13. ^Advogado (April 4, 2000)."Interview: Christopher Montgomery of Xiphophorus".Advogado. Archived fromthe originalon June 28, 2017.RetrievedSeptember 2,2009.
  14. ^ Xiphophorus company (December 12, 2001)."Xiphophorus home".Archived fromthe originalon December 12, 2001.RetrievedSeptember 2,2009.
  15. ^ab Xiph.org Foundation (November 27, 2002)."Xiph.org home".Archived fromthe originalon November 27, 2002.RetrievedSeptember 2,2009.
  16. ^ Xiphophorus company (November 28, 1999)."Xiphophorus home".Archived fromthe originalon November 28, 1999.RetrievedSeptember 2,2009.
  17. ^Xiph.Org (2003-03-24)Speex reaches 1.0; Xiph.Org now a 501(c)(3) Non-Profit Organization,Retrieved 2009-09-01
  18. ^"Ogg Skeleton 4 - XiphWiki".wiki.xiph.org.RetrievedNovember 6,2022.
  19. ^Michael Smith (2005-08-29)Tarkin,vorbis-dev mailinglist, Retrieved 2009-09-06
  20. ^"Xiph.org:: daala video".xiph.org.RetrievedNovember 6,2022.
  21. ^ "libao: a cross platform audio library".Xiph.Org.RetrievedJune 29,2009.Libao is a cross-platform audio library that allows programs to output audio using a simple API on a wide variety of platforms.
  22. ^"XiphQT discontinued".Xiph.org.June 13, 2016.
[edit]
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Xiph.Org_Foundation&oldid=1240752360#OpenCodecs"