Vorbis Vorbis is a completely open and free audio compression (codec) project from the Xiph.org Foundation. It is frequently used in conjunction with the Ogg container and is then called Ogg Vorbis. Vorbis was started following a September 1998 letter from Fraunhofer Gesellschaft announcing plans to charge licensing fees for the MP3 format. Soon after founder Christopher Montgomery began work on the project, he was assisted by a growing collection of other developers. They continued refining the code until a stable version 1.0 of the codec was released on July 19, 2002. The latest version is 1.1.0 released on 2004-09-22. Source code for this release is available from the official Vorbis web site, while many Windows binaries can be downloaded at Rarewares. Popularity growth The Ogg Vorbis format has proved popular among open source communities; they argue that its higher fidelity and completely free nature make it a natural replacement for the entrenched MP3 format. However, MP3 has a popular history dating back to the mid-1990s and as of 2004 is still the primary lossy audio format. It may be some time before one sees more Ogg format files than MP3 files. In the commercial sector, Vorbis has already had success with many newer video game titles employing Vorbis as opposed to MP3. The increasing number of hardware players that support Vorbis is encouraging its growth as of July 2004; see the compatible hardware below. Technical details Given 44.1 kHz (standard CD audio sample frequency) stereo input, the current encoder as of July 2004 will produce output from 45 to 500 kbit/s depending on the specified quality setting. Though Vorbis 1.0.1 is tuned for bitrates of 16 to 128 kbit/s/channel, it is still possible to encode arbitrary bitrates chosen by the user. Such figures are only approximate, however, as Vorbis is inherently variable-bitrate (VBR). Vorbis uses the modified discrete cosine transform (MDCT) for converting sound data from the time domain to the frequency domain. The resulting frequency-domain data is broken into noise floor and residue components, and then quantized and entropy coded using a codebook-based vector quantization algorithm. The decompression algorithm reverses these stages. Licensing Vorbis's specifications are in the public domain (Xiph.org reserves the right to set the Vorbis specification and certify compliance). Its libraries are released under a BSD-style license and its tools are released under the GPL (GNU General Public License). The Xiph.org Foundation says that Vorbis, like all its developments, is completely free from the licensing or patent issues raised by other proprietary formats such as MP3. Although Xiph claims to have conducted a limited patent search that supports its claims, outside parties have expressed doubt that Vorbis is free of patented technology. Xiph says that it was issued a legal opinion privately subject to attorney/client privilege, and has not released an official statement on the patent status of Vorbis. No conclusive evidence has been presented that Vorbis is or is not patent-free as of 2004. Some Vorbis proponents have derided the uncertainty concerning the patent status as "FUD": disinformation spread by large companies with a vested interest. Hardware and software support Tremor, a version of the Vorbis decoder which uses fixed-point arithmetic (rather than floating point) was made available to the public on September 2, 2002 (also under a BSD-style license). Tremor, or platform specific versions based on it, is more suited to implementation on the limited facilities available in commercial audio systems (such as portable players). A number of versions, which make adjustments for specific platforms, and which include customised optimisations for given embedded microprocessors, have been produced. Several hardware manufacturers have expressed an intention to produce Vorbis-compliant devices, and new Vorbis devices seem to be appearing at a steady rate, especially in South Korea, although availability might differ from country to country. Hardware The VorbisHardware node at the xiph.org wiki has an up-to-date list of Vorbis-supporting hardware, such as portables, PDAs, and microchips. Here are a few examples of devices that play Ogg Vorbis files: All iRiver harddisk players support Ogg Vorbis. Most of the flash-memory players will play Ogg Vorbis without a firmware upgrade. The Neuros (site) portable player released a firmware upgrade offering Ogg Vorbis support after a beta testing period in the latter half of 2003. Firmware versions 1.45 and newer support Ogg Vorbis. Rio Karma, an mp3 player supporting both Ogg Vorbis and FLAC. The Jens of Sweden MP-130 (site) supports Ogg Vorbis. The Xclef HD800 http://www.xclef.com/main.htm supports Ogg Vorbis amongst other formats. Cowon iAudio M3 http://eng.cowon.com/product/iAUDIOM3/about.html Samsung YP-60V KiSS DVD-Players (site) are supporting Ogg Vorbis, MP3 and WMA. Some models have an Ethernet port allowing to stream audio and video from a PC on the network or listen to Web radio. Software Ogg Vorbis (as of 2003) can be played using these (and other) players: XMMS for Unix-like systems (GPL) [formerly known as X11amp] MPlayer for Unix-like systems (GPL) Rhythmbox for Unix-like systems, GNOME based and GPL amaroK for Unix-like systems, KDE based and GPL zinf for Linux and Windows (GPL) [formerly known as FreeAmp] Winamp for Windows (freeware) [No further development expected] JetAudio for Windows (freeware) JOrbis pure Java (LGPL) foobar2000 for Windows (freeware) focused on high quality playback GStreamer for Unix-like systems (GPL) VLC media player for Windows, Mac OS X, and Unix-like systems. (GPL) PocketOgg for Pocket PC Quintessential Player for Windows, MAC (freeware) Sonique for Windows (freeware) Pocket Tunes for PalmOS 5 AeroPlayer for PalmOS 5 Symbian OggPlay for Symbian OS (Series 60 as well as UIQ) based Smartphones XMPlay for Windows (freeware) dBpowerAMP for Windows Vorbis can be played by Microsoft's Windows Media Player using an Ogg Vorbis DirectShow filter available at http://tobias.everwicked.com; a different DirectShow filter is available at http://www.illiminable.com/ogg. There is a QuickTime component available at the qtcomponents SourceForge project. This allows Vorbis audio to be played by the popular iTunes software. In July 2002, RealNetworks announced that they will support Ogg Vorbis in their products. See Helix project for more details. Trivia "Ogg" is not named after the witch Nanny Ogg in Terry Pratchett's Discworld books. However, "Vorbis" is named after another Discworld character, High Priest Vorbis in Small Gods. See also Help with Ogg Vorbis and playing sounds files on Wikipedia Ogg bitstream format Speex, speech codec FLAC, lossless audio codec Theora, video codec Tarkin, video codec External links Xiph.org Foundation Ogg Vorbis site Listening test comparing Vorbis to MP3, RealAudio, WMA, etc. List of Vorbis streams Vorbis FAQ Vorbis documentation modified discrete cosine transform Description Christopher "Monty" Montgomery (main developer) interview, slashdot.org Listening Tests conducted by Roberto J. Amorim (comparing MP3, Vorbis, AAC, etc) Ogg Vorbis binaries at Rarewares Most Popular Articles: Music    Musical Instruments    Guitar    Classical Music    History    Music Definition    Country Music    Rock Music    Pop Music    Hip Hop    Rap    DJ    Video Games    Casino Games    Poker    Blackjack    Casinos    Real Estate    Loan    Auction    eBay    Marketing    Search Engine Optimization    File Sharing    MP3    Music Industry    Kazaa    Internet    Supermodel    Fashion    Fashion Designers    Erotica    Modeling    Clothing    Boots    Shoes    Diamond Engagement Rings    Diamond    Rugs    Gospel Music    Affiliate    E-Commerce    Radio This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License at http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/fdl.html You may copy and modify it as long as the entire work (including additions) remains under this license. 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