Ogg-Vorbis.com

What Is It?

What is Ogg Vorbis?
What do all the names mean?
What is the file extension for Ogg Vorbis?
Does Vorbis completely replace MP3, or is it just a complementary codec?
When will Ogg Vorbis be done?
I'm an artist. Why should I be interested?
I'm a music fan. Why should I be interested?
I'm a developer. Why should I be interested?
I run a music company. Why should I be interested?
What is iCAST's relationship to Ogg Vorbis?

Licensing

What licensing applies to the Ogg Vorbis format?
What licensing applies to the included Ogg Vorbis software?
We make commercial, closed source software. Can I use Ogg Vorbis at all? What licensing do I need to pay?
Are there licensing fees for distributing, selling, or streaming media in the Ogg Vorbis format like there are in other formats, such as MP3?
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?

Audio Quality

Does Ogg Vorbis sound better than MP3?
Will Ogg Vorbis audio quality improve?
Why is Ogg Vorbis better than the other "New MP3" codecs that are available?
You're claiming that Vorbis has great audio quality. Have you done any listening tests to back this up?
I've heard some test samples that have audible artifacts. Why did this happen?

Features

How big are Ogg Vorbis files? How do they compare to MP3 files at similar bitrates?
What is the maximum bitrate that Vorbis can be encoded at?
Does Ogg Vorbis have the capability to show song titles and artist information when the file is played or streamed? I don't see any in the test files.
How fast are the encoders/decoders?
Where's video?
What about streaming in Ogg Vorbis format?
What software and hardware supports Ogg Vorbis?
What unique features does Ogg Vorbis have?

What Is It?

What is Ogg Vorbis?

Ogg Vorbis is a new audio compression format. It is roughly comparable to other formats used to store and play digital music, such as MP3, VQF, AAC, and other digital audio formats. It is different from these other formats because it is completely free, open, and unpatented.

What do all the names mean?

Vorbis is the name for the specific audio compression scheme used to create OggVorbis files. It is part of the Ogg project, which is a blanket project designed to create a fully open multimedia system. Right now, OggVorbis is the only functional part of the Ogg project which is anywhere near completion.

What is the file extension for Ogg Vorbis?

Since it is part of the Ogg project, Vorbis files have the extension .ogg.

Does Vorbis completely replace MP3, or is it just a complementary codec?

Ogg Vorbis has been designed to completely replace all proprietary, patented audio formats. That means that you can encode all your music or audio content in Vorbis and never look back.

When will Ogg Vorbis be done?

We are headed towards a final 1.0 release very soon. However, the file format has been finished for some time. A Vorbis file created today will still be compatible with future decoders for years to come. The format has been designed to be flexible, so that the developers can continue to improve file size and sound quality without "breaking" older encoders and players.

I'm an artist. Why should I be interested?

There are a couple of reasons:

Although not all artists realize it, MP3 is what is known as a "lossy" format. Thus, much of the sound data is removed when MP3 files are created. This results in a file with inferior sound quality to a CD. Vorbis is also a "lossy" format, but uses superior acoustic models to reduce the damage. Thus, music released in Vorbis will sound better than a comparably sized MP3 file.

Also, artists should be concerned about licensing terms for formats. If you decide to sell your music in MP3 format, you are responsible for paying Fraunhofer a percentage of each sale because you are using their patents. Vorbis is patent and license-free, so you will never need to pay anyone in order to sell, give away, or stream your own music.

I'm a music fan. Why should I be interested?

For one, Vorbis provides a high-quality format for you to listen to your music. Its file size is also smaller than MP3 and getting smaller as development continues. Vorbis already enjoys widespread player support and should be compatible with several major hardware players soon. With Vorbis, you can listen to your music with higher quality in less space. Also, using Vorbis means your player and encoder choices aren't bound by licensing terms. Right now, you can only choose from a few encoders to create your MP3 files, because most companies won't or can't pay the licensing terms for encoders. Using Vorbis lets you choose from a wide variety of encoders.

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I'm a developer. Why should I be interested?

If you develop hardware or software audio players, you cannot distribute your work without being affected by proprietary audio patent licensing terms. With Vorbis, you can create hardware or software products to encode or decode music files without restrictions, royalty payments, or limits on distribution. Vorbis also provides a flexible, high-quality format that is of great interest to all the audio geeks out there. For more developer information, please refer to our .

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 is iCAST's relationship to Ogg Vorbis?

As an entertainment company, iCAST believes in free, open access to formats and protocols. The OggVorbis project enables companies to create and access audio content without "handcuffs" created by patent owners, licensing, and royalties. Because of this, iCAST sponsors the development of the OggVorbis project. However, OggVorbis is a public domain codec. No one "owns" the format, not even iCAST. As a technology leader in the digital music space, iCAST is helping OggVorbis improve and reach the rest of the digital music world.

Licensing

What licensing applies to the Ogg Vorbis format?

The OggVorbis specification is in the public domain. It is completely free for commercial or noncommercial use. That means that commercial developers may independently write OggVorbis 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 OggVorbis software is released under the terms of the GNU GPL, or GNU General Public License. The libraries or SDKs are released under the more business friendly LGPL. The details can be found at . These standard open-source licenses require that any modifications to the software also must be rereleased under the GPL/LGPL. Please note that developers are still free to use the specification to independently write closed-source implementations of OggVorbis 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 GPL. We do have libraries available under the LGPL that can be linked to by closed source applications as well.

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. Vorbis will always be free and in the public domain. iCAST doesn't need to place intellectual property restrictions on Vorbis in order to benefit from it.

Audio Quality

Does Ogg Vorbis sound better than MP3?

Since Vorbis uses very different mathematical principles from MP3, it has different challenges when compressing music. In current listening tests, Vorbis and MP3 files encoded at the same bitrates have similar sound quality.

Will Ogg Vorbis audio quality improve?

Yes. Vorbis has a flexible format which allows significant tuning of sound quality and training of the algorithms even after the file format is frozen. Vorbis sounds very good today, and will continue to sound better every day.

Why is Ogg Vorbis better than the other "New MP3" codecs that are available?

Vorbis sounds better. Vorbis is open. Vorbis doesn't have intelluctual property retrictions to get in the way. And Vorbis doesn't just try to sound better, it tries to do things fundamentally better in all the ways that it can.

You're claiming that Vorbis has great audio quality. Have you done any listening tests to back this up?

The current public beta release has several known bugs that do affect audio quality. It's primarily intended for developers and early adopters to sample the technology. When we reach the 1.0 release, we're hoping to conduct double blind listening tests with a variety of test samples to fairly compare Vorbis with competing audio formats. Based on informal listening tests by the developers and other interested parties, we are confident that Vorbis will fare well in these tests. These tests will be used to further tune the format as development continues.

I've heard some test samples that have audible artifacts. Why did this happen?

While the Vorbis file format is standardized, the Vorbis encoder is still in its first beta. There are several known bugs that affect audio quality. The most problematic and highly publicized bug has to do with short block allocation in our beta encoder. The effects of these bugs are particularly severe with test tone samples. Music samples are not nearly as heavily affected. We're working on fixing the bugs right now for a later beta release. We'll let everyone know when Vorbis is ready for intensive audiophile-quality listening tests.

Features

How big are Ogg Vorbis files? How do they compare to MP3 files at similar bitrates?

Two files encoded at the same bitrate, will always be the same size, if they are both encoded with CBR (Constant Bitrate). The current Vorbis Beta only encodes files in VBR (Variable Bitrate) which can produce smaller files with better quality, since it doesn't have to waste data for audio that is easy to encode. The current files produced by the Vorbis Beta will be similar in size to 128kbps MP3 files, but will sound better.

What is the maximum bitrate that Vorbis can be encoded at?

Theoretically, there isn't one. Vorbis is tuned for bitrates of 16kbps to 128kbps PER CHANNEL. But there's nothing in the spec that says you can't encode a file at 512kbps or 8kbps.

Does Ogg Vorbis have the capability to show song titles and artist information when the file is played or streamed? I don't see any in the test files.

Yes, Vorbis includes a flexible, complete comment field for song and artist info, as well as other track data. The current beta encoder, however, does not include this information yet. This feature will be worked into a future beta release of the development encoder and may be available sooner in 3rd-party encoding tools.

How fast are the encoders/decoders?

Right now the encoder is about as fast as some of the commercial encoders, but not nearly as fast as some others. Since this unoptimized beta code, this is to be expected. As the vorbis tools mature they will become faster. The decoding is roughly the same complexity as MP3 decoding, and once the Vorbis decoding tools are optimized, they should decode at similar speeds.

Where's video?

We have done some preliminary work on a video codec that will work within the Ogg framework. However, video presents a new set of challenges, and our primary focus is on audio for the time being.

What about streaming in Ogg Vorbis format?

Streaming is an important component of Vorbis. The format has been designed from the ground-up to be easily streamable. The designers of Vorbis are working alongside the creators of Icecast streaming media software to make Icecast Vorbis-compatible. We are also working on player support for streaming Ogg files. Streaming Ogg files from the web will be supported by the player plugins at the 1.0 Vorbis release.
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What software and hardware supports Ogg Vorbis?

As of today, Sonique, FreeAmp, Winamp, XMMS, and kmpg support OggVorbis playback through plugins. We have written a sample encoder and decoder, available with the Vorbis package. We expect native support soon in most of these players, as well as several hardware partners. Two of the most popular free MP3 encoders, and , have also announced that they will encode Ogg Vorbis files by default in upcoming versions.

What unique features does Ogg Vorbis have?

Vorbis has a well defined comment header that is easy to use and extensible and obviates the need for clunky hacks like ID3 tags. Vorbis has bitrate scaling - a feature that lets you adjust the bitrate of a Vorbis file or stream without reencoding; just chop the packets up in the sizes you want them. Vorbis files can be sliced and edited with sample granularity. Vorbis has support for many channels, not just 1 or 2. Vorbis files can be logically chained together.