 |
|
|
  
|
|
I run a music company. Why should I be interested?
Music companies should be very interested in the Ogg Vorbis format. Other technologies require large financial investments to get started, but Vorbis offers a unique platform that is easily reachable for growing companies and a money saver for established businesses. Because of its wide player support and its open nature, your customers and clients will not be plagued by incompatibilities and they will appreciate the higher sound quality as well.
What licensing applies to the Ogg Vorbis format?
The Ogg Vorbis specification is in the public domain. It is completely free for commercial or noncommercial use. That means that commercial developers may independently write Ogg Vorbis software which is compatible with the specification for no charge and without restrictions of any kind. However, developers that wish to use the open source software we have written must adhere to certain rules.
What licensing applies to the included Ogg Vorbis software?
The bundled Ogg Vorbis utility software is released under the terms of the GNU GPL, or GNU General Public License. The details can be found at www.gnu.org.
The libraries and SDKs are released under the more business-friendly BSD license. Please note that developers are still free to use the specification to independently write closed-source implementations of Ogg Vorbis which are not bound by these licenses.
We make commercial, closed source software. Can I use Ogg Vorbis at all? What licensing do I need to pay?
Again, there are no licensing fees for ANY use of the Ogg Vorbis specification. As a commercial developer, you are free to create and sell (or give away) open or closed source implementations of Vorbis encoders, decoders, or other tools. However, if you use our software rather than writing an independent implementation, you must respect the terms of the license. Our libraries (available under the BSD license) can be used whole or in part by closed source applications.
Are there licensing fees for distributing, selling, or streaming media in the Ogg Vorbis format like there are in other formats, such as MP3?
No.
If there aren't any licensing fees, how are you going to make money off the format? Will you charge fees later, after Vorbis becomes popular?
The benefits of a patent-free, license-free format outweigh the concerns of making money directly from the format. The Vorbis format will always be free and in the public domain. Xiph.org is investigating a variety of models for funding development, some of which may include licensing non-free Vorbis-related programs and libraries to commercial projects. Nevertheless, the reference encoder and decoder will always be open source and third parties will always be free to modify or reimplement them.
I've heard that Vorbis is a "lossy" codec. What does this mean?
There are two broad classes of compression algorithms: lossless and lossy. Lossless compression algorithms produce compressed data that can be decoded to output that is identical to the original. Zip is a very common example of a lossless compression format. FLAC is a lossless compression format that is specifically designed for audio.
The other type of compression algorithm is called lossy. This form of compression is very popular with multimedia data, like pictures, movies, and sound. Since these types of information are perceived by humans with imperfect senses, the original data does not have to be reproduced exactly. Some of the information in the original file can actually be discarded because we wouldn't notice it even if it was there. Lossy codecs can achieve much higher compression than lossless codecs by intelligently discarding unneeded information. In most cases, some loss of quality can be tolerated, so even more data can be discarded, further increasing compression. MP3, RealAudio, and Vorbis all use lossy audio compression. This means that a Vorbis file, for example, will decode to a WAV file that is different than the original. The differences may or may not be noticable, depending upon the quality selected during compression.
Back 1 2 3 4 Next
|
|
|
|
| |
|
|
| DVD To AVI
* Copy DVD which rip and decode by dvd ripper and dvd decode. |
| DVD To MPEG
* Integrates DVD copy, decoder, ripper with MPEG encoder and crack DVD. |
| CD Label Maker
* Create your own CD labels and jewel cases with the ultimate in ease. |
| Visual MP3
* Organize your MP3 files, edit your ID tags., and more function... |
| MP3 Audio Mixer
* Created the ultimate multi-track recorder, mixer, and editor all in one! |
|
|
|
|
