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Ogg Theora to Flash Transcoding Live on EngageMedia.org

by Anna Helme — last modified 2007-08-15 06:33

EngageMedia are happy to announce Ogg Theora to Flash transcoding is live on the website. What does that mean?? Ogg Theora is a high quality FOSS (Free Open Source Software) video codec developed by Xiph.org. It means that now you can make an Ogg file of your video and when you upload it you'll be able to watch a transcoded (or converted) version of this in the EngageMedia embedded Flash Player - just as you would with any other video format. At EngageMedia we try to encourage the use of free software wherever possible. As far as video codecs like Quicktime, Windows Media and Flash are concerned, these are proprietary codecs that can cost huge amounts of money for online distributors to use, depending on the license and how these videos are delivered to the web audience. We encourage the use of FOSS codecs where possible, and are hoping to increase their usability and uptake.

Ogg Theora to Flash Transcoding Live on EngageMedia.org

Xiph, the makers of Ogg Theora/Vorbis

For you as a member of EngageMedia things are pretty much the same as before - you can publish your video as usual. But now you can choose to encode your video as Ogg format, using the Theora video codec and the Vorbis audio codec and it will work just like any other video when you upload it.

There is an example of an Ogg Theora/Vorbis video on EngageMedia you can look at here.


From the Theora.org website...

Q. What is Theora?
Theora is an open video codec being developed by the Xiph.org Foundation as part of their Ogg project (It is a project that aims to integrate On2's VP3 video codec, Ogg Vorbis audio codec and Ogg multimedia container formats into a multimedia solution that can compete with MPEG-4 format).
Theora is derived directly from On2's VP3 codec; currently the two are nearly identical, varying only in framing headers, but Theora will diverge and improve from the main VP3 development lineage as time progresses.

Q. Why use Theora?
It's open and free. Do you need more reasons?

Q. What other video formats will Theora compete with?
Theora is targeted at competing with MPEG-4 (e.g., XviD and DivX), RealVideo, Windows Media Video, and similar lower-bitrate video compression schemes.

Q. What is Ogg? What is Vorbis? What is xiph.org?
Vorbis is an audio codec, Theora is a video codec. Ogg is the transport layer that both are stored in, so a video file will be Theora-encoded data inside an Ogg file, while audio is normally Vorbis-encoded data inside an ogg file.
The Xiph.org Foundation is a Delaware non-profit company devoted to producing, maintaining and supporting an open multimedia platform.

Q. What is the license for Theora?
Theora (and all associated technologies released by the Xiph.org Foundation) is released to the public via a BSD-style license. It is completely free for commercial or noncommercial use. That means that commercial developers may independently write Theora software which is compatible with the specification for no charge and without restrictions of any kind.

Q. Why the name 'Theora?'
Like other Xiph.org Foundation codec projects such as Vorbis or Tarkin, Theora is named after a fictional character. Theora Jones was the name of Edison Carter's 'controller' on the television series Max Headroom. She was played by Amanda Pays.


Recommended Ogg Transcoders

Here is a list of software you can use to create Ogg Theora/Vorbis files on your computer:
http://wiki.xiph.org/index.php/TheoraSoftwareEncoders

We recommend the use of these applications to create Ogg files on these platforms:

Mac (Intel OS X): Simple Theora Encoder
Linux: OggConvert
Windows: Gfrontend ffmpeg2theora

All these applications are still in development, so you can expect a bug here or there, but are very simple and easy to use.

Tutorial for Simple Theora Encoder

We published a News Item recently about a new tutorial for Simple Theora Encoder on the website. You can access this tutorial here.

Please contact us to let us know how you go!

Cheers,
The EngageMedia Team


Copyright 2007, by the contributing author. Cite/attribute Resource. anna. (2007, August 15). Ogg Theora to Flash Transcoding Live on EngageMedia.org. Retrieved November 21, 2008, from EngageMedia Web site: http://www.engagemedia.org/Members/anna/news/ogg-to-flash-transcoding-live-on-engagemedia.org. This work is licensed under a Creative Commons License. Creative Commons License