Xiph.Org Foundation
Encyclopedia
Xiph.Org Foundation is a non-profit organization
that produces free
multimedia
formats and software tools. It focuses on the Ogg
family of formats, the most successful of which has been Vorbis
, an open and freely licensed audio format and codec
designed to compete with the patented MP3
and AAC
. Current development work is focusing on Theora
, an open and patent-free video format and codec designed to compete with the patented MPEG-4
, RealVideo
, and Windows Media Video
.
In addition to its in-house development work, the Foundation has also brought several already-existing but complementary free software
projects under its aegis, most of which have a separate, active group of developers. These include Speex
, an audio codec designed for speech, and FLAC, a lossless audio codec.
The Xiph.Org Foundation has criticized Microsoft
and the RIAA for their lack of openness. They state that if companies like Microsoft owned patents
on the internet then other companies would try 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 condemn the RIAA for their support of projects such as Secure Digital Music Initiative
.
In 2008 the Free Software Foundation
listed the Xiph.Org projects as High Priority Free Software Projects.
, creator of the Ogg
container format, founded the Xiphophorus company and later the Xiph.Org Foundation. The first work that became the Ogg media projects started in 1994. The name "Xiph" abbreviates the original organizational name, "Xiphophorus", named after the common swordtail
fish, Xiphophorus hellerii. The name "Xiphophorus company" was used until 2002, when it was renamed to Xiph.Org Foundation.
In 1999 the Xiphophorus company defined itself on xiph.org 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". In 2002 the Xiph.Org Foundation defined itself on xiph.org website as "a non-profit corporation dedicated to protecting the foundations of Internet multimedia from control by private interests".
In March 2003, the Xiph.Org Foundation was recognized by the IRS
as a 501(c)(3) Non-Profit Organization, meaning U.S. Citizens can deduct donations to Xiph.Org from their taxes.
Non-profit organization
Nonprofit organization is neither a legal nor technical definition but generally refers to an organization that uses surplus revenues to achieve its goals, rather than distributing them as profit or dividends...
that produces free
Free software
Free software, software libre or libre software is software that can be used, studied, and modified without restriction, and which can be copied and redistributed in modified or unmodified form either without restriction, or with restrictions that only ensure that further recipients can also do...
multimedia
Multimedia
Multimedia is media and content that uses a combination of different content forms. The term can be used as a noun or as an adjective describing a medium as having multiple content forms. The term is used in contrast to media which use only rudimentary computer display such as text-only, or...
formats and software tools. It focuses on the Ogg
Ogg
Ogg is a free, open container format maintained by the Xiph.Org Foundation. The creators of the Ogg format state that it is unrestricted by software patents and is designed to provide for efficient streaming and manipulation of high quality digital multimedia.The Ogg container format can multiplex...
family of formats, the most successful of which has been Vorbis
Vorbis
Vorbis is a free software / open source project headed by the Xiph.Org Foundation . The project produces an audio format specification and software implementation for lossy audio compression...
, an open and freely licensed audio format and codec
Codec
A codec is a device or computer program capable of encoding or decoding a digital data stream or signal. The word codec is a portmanteau of "compressor-decompressor" or, more commonly, "coder-decoder"...
designed to compete with the patented MP3
MP3
MPEG-1 or MPEG-2 Audio Layer III, more commonly referred to as MP3, is a patented digital audio encoding format using a form of lossy data compression...
and AAC
Advanced Audio Coding
Advanced Audio Coding is a standardized, lossy compression and encoding scheme for digital audio. Designed to be the successor of the MP3 format, AAC generally achieves better sound quality than MP3 at similar bit rates....
. Current development work is focusing on Theora
Theora
Theora is a free lossy video compression format. It is developed by the Xiph.Org Foundation and distributed without licensing fees alongside their other free and open media projects, including the Vorbis audio format and the Ogg container....
, an open and patent-free video format and codec designed to compete with the patented MPEG-4
MPEG-4
MPEG-4 is a method of defining compression of audio and visual digital data. It was introduced in late 1998 and designated a standard for a group of audio and video coding formats and related technology agreed upon by the ISO/IEC Moving Picture Experts Group under the formal standard ISO/IEC...
, RealVideo
RealVideo
RealVideo is a suite of proprietary video compression formats developed by RealNetworks – the specific format changes with the version. It was first released in 1997 and is at version 10. RealVideo is supported on many platforms, including Windows, Mac, Linux, Solaris, and several mobile...
, and Windows Media Video
Windows Media Video
'Windows Media Video is a video compression format for several proprietary codecs developed by Microsoft. The original video format, known as WMV, was originally designed for Internet streaming applications, as a competitor to RealVideo. The other formats, such as WMV Screen and WMV Image, cater...
.
In addition to its in-house development work, the Foundation has also brought several already-existing but complementary free software
Free software
Free software, software libre or libre software is software that can be used, studied, and modified without restriction, and which can be copied and redistributed in modified or unmodified form either without restriction, or with restrictions that only ensure that further recipients can also do...
projects under its aegis, most of which have a separate, active group of developers. These include Speex
Speex
Speex is a patent-free audio compression format designed for speech and also a free software speech codec that may be used on VoIP applications and podcasts. It is based on the CELP speech coding algorithm. Speex claims to be free of any patent restrictions and is licensed under the revised BSD...
, an audio codec designed for speech, and FLAC, a lossless audio codec.
The Xiph.Org Foundation has criticized Microsoft
Microsoft
Microsoft Corporation is an American public multinational corporation headquartered in Redmond, Washington, USA that develops, manufactures, licenses, and supports a wide range of products and services predominantly related to computing through its various product divisions...
and the RIAA for their lack of openness. They state that if companies like Microsoft owned patents
Software patent
Software patent does not have a universally accepted definition. One definition suggested by the Foundation for a Free Information Infrastructure is that a software patent is a "patent on any performance of a computer realised by means of a computer program".In 2005, the European Patent Office...
on the internet then other companies would try 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 condemn the RIAA for their support of projects such as Secure Digital Music Initiative
Secure Digital Music Initiative
Secure Digital Music Initiative was a forum formed in late 1998, composed of more than 200 IT, consumer electronics, security technology, ISP and recording industry companies, ostensibly with the purpose of developing technology specifications that protected the playing, storing and distributing...
.
In 2008 the Free Software Foundation
Free Software Foundation
The Free Software Foundation is a non-profit corporation founded by Richard Stallman on 4 October 1985 to support the free software movement, a copyleft-based movement which aims to promote the universal freedom to create, distribute and modify computer software...
listed the Xiph.Org projects as High Priority Free Software Projects.
History
Chris MontgomeryChris Montgomery
Christopher “Monty” Montgomery is the creator of the Ogg Free Software container format and Vorbis audio codec and others, and the founder of The Xiph Foundation which promotes public domain multimedia Codecs...
, creator of the Ogg
Ogg
Ogg is a free, open container format maintained by the Xiph.Org Foundation. The creators of the Ogg format state that it is unrestricted by software patents and is designed to provide for efficient streaming and manipulation of high quality digital multimedia.The Ogg container format can multiplex...
container format, founded the Xiphophorus company and later the Xiph.Org Foundation. The first work that became the Ogg media projects started in 1994. The name "Xiph" abbreviates the original organizational name, "Xiphophorus", named after the common swordtail
Green swordtail
The green swordtail is a species of freshwater fish in family Poeciliidae of order Cyprinodontiformes. A live-bearer, it is closely related to the southern platyfish or "platy" and can crossbreed with it...
fish, Xiphophorus hellerii. The name "Xiphophorus company" was used until 2002, when it was renamed to Xiph.Org Foundation.
In 1999 the Xiphophorus company defined itself on xiph.org 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". In 2002 the Xiph.Org Foundation defined itself on xiph.org website as "a non-profit corporation dedicated to protecting the foundations of Internet multimedia from control by private interests".
In March 2003, the Xiph.Org Foundation was recognized by the IRS
Internal Revenue Service
The Internal Revenue Service is the revenue service of the United States federal government. The agency is a bureau of the Department of the Treasury, and is under the immediate direction of the Commissioner of Internal Revenue...
as a 501(c)(3) Non-Profit Organization, meaning U.S. Citizens can deduct donations to Xiph.Org from their taxes.
Xiph.Org Foundation projects
- OggOggOgg is a free, open container format maintained by the Xiph.Org Foundation. The creators of the Ogg format state that it is unrestricted by software patents and is designed to provide for efficient streaming and manipulation of high quality digital multimedia.The Ogg container format can multiplex...
- a multimedia container format, a reference implementation, and the native file and stream format for the Xiph.org multimedia codecs- VorbisVorbisVorbis is a free software / open source project headed by the Xiph.Org Foundation . The project produces an audio format specification and software implementation for lossy audio compression...
- a lossy audio compression format and software - TheoraTheoraTheora is a free lossy video compression format. It is developed by the Xiph.Org Foundation and distributed without licensing fees alongside their other free and open media projects, including the Vorbis audio format and the Ogg container....
- a lossy video compression format and software - FLAC - a lossless audio compression format and software
- SpeexSpeexSpeex is a patent-free audio compression format designed for speech and also a free software speech codec that may be used on VoIP applications and podcasts. It is based on the CELP speech coding algorithm. Speex claims to be free of any patent restrictions and is licensed under the revised BSD...
- a lossy speech compression format and software - CELTCELTConstrained Energy Lapped Transform is an open, royalty-free audio compression format and a free software codec with especially low algorithmic delay for use in low-latency audio communication. It is a lossy codec, meaning quality is permanently degraded to reduce file size.The algorithms are...
- an ultra-low delay lossy audio compression format and software - TremorTremor (software)Tremor by the Xiph.Org Foundation is a fixed-point version of the Vorbis decoder for those platforms without floating point operations.It is a software library that decodes the Vorbis audio format. It is free software released under the New BSD license...
- an integer-only implementation of the Vorbis audio decoder for embedded devices (software) - OggPCMOggPCMOggPCM is a data format which is used to encapsulate PCM audio data inside the Ogg container format. It is developed by Xiph.Org Foundation. Like WAV, and unlike MP3 or Vorbis, it deals with uncompressed digital sound, making the format lossless. Like Vorbis, it could be used in separation from the...
- an encapsulation of PCM audio data inside the Ogg container format - OggUVSOggUVSOggUVS is an uncompressed video codec for Ogg, developed by Xiph.Org. Currently, it's still a working draft, but it's intended to be a simple way to store and transfer uncompressed video within an Ogg container. It is similar to projects like OggYUV and OggRGB, and is intended to support both...
- an uncompressed video codec for Ogg (a work in progress and not a final proposal) - Skeleton - a structuring information for multitrack Ogg files (a logical bitstream within an Ogg stream)
- RTPReal-time Transport ProtocolThe Real-time Transport Protocol defines a standardized packet format for delivering audio and video over IP networks. RTP is used extensively in communication and entertainment systems that involve streaming media, such as telephony, video teleconference applications, television services and...
-containers for Vorbis, Theora, Speex - CMML - an XML-based markup language for time-continuous data (a timed text codec)
- Ogg WritOgg WritOgg Writ is a text-phrase codec used with the Ogg encapsulation format.It was initially designed to provide subtitles for Ogg Theora videos, but is also useful for song lyrics with Ogg FLAC or Vorbis, transcripts with Ogg Speex, or any other place where it is useful to combine text with audio or...
- a text phrase codec (no longer maintained) - Ogg SquishOgg SquishOggSquish was one of the first names used for the Ogg project developed from 1994 by the Xiphophorus company . Ogg Squish was also an attempt from the Xiphophorus company to create a royalty-free lossless audio compression codec....
- a lossless audio compression format and software (discontinued) - Tarkin - an experimental lossy video compression; no stable release (discontinued)
- Vorbis
- libao, an audio-output library that operates on different platforms
- OpenCodecsOpenCodecsOpenCodecs is a software package for enabling HTML5 video on Microsoft Windows, particularly using the Theora and WebM codecs in Internet Explorer...
- a codec pack for Windows, by Xiph and the WebM Project - Xiph QuickTime ComponentsXiph QuickTime ComponentsThe Xiph QuickTime Components are Xiph.org's implementation of the Ogg container along with the Speex, Theora, FLAC and Vorbis codecs for QuickTime...
- a codec pack for QuickTimeQuickTimeQuickTime is an extensible proprietary multimedia framework developed by Apple Inc., capable of handling various formats of digital video, picture, sound, panoramic images, and interactivity. The classic version of QuickTime is available for Windows XP and later, as well as Mac OS X Leopard and... - AnnodexAnnodexAnnodex is a digital media format developed by CSIRO to provide annotation and indexing of continuous media, such as audio and video.It is based on the Ogg container format, with an XML language called CMML providing additional metadata...
- an encapsulation format, which interleaves time-continuous data with CMML markup in a streamable manner - cdparanoiaCdparanoiacdparanoia is a compact disc ripper for *nix and BeOS, developed by Xiph.org. It is designed to be a minimalistic, high-quality CD ripper that would be able to compensate for and adjust to poor hardware to produce a flawless rip....
- a compact disc ripper (software) - XSPF - a playlist format for digital media
- IcecastIcecastIcecast is a streaming media project released as free software maintained by the Xiph.org Foundation. It also refers specifically to the server program which is part of the project. Icecast was created in December 1998/January 1999 by Jack Moffitt and Barath Raghavan to provide an open source...
- an open source multi-platform streaming server (software) - IcesIcecastIcecast is a streaming media project released as free software maintained by the Xiph.org Foundation. It also refers specifically to the server program which is part of the project. Icecast was created in December 1998/January 1999 by Jack Moffitt and Barath Raghavan to provide an open source...
- 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)