Google Reveals the WebM Project
Project to create high-quality open standard for video on the Web based on Vorbis and VP8.
It had been rumored for sometime that Google might open up the VP8 video codec after the acquisition of On2 Technologies, the codec's creator. Today at the I/O conference, Google confirmed the rumor with the announcement of the WebM Project.
The WebM Project, a venture supported by Mozilla, Opera, Google and at least 40 additional publishers, uses the VP8 video codec and the Vorbis audio codec to create high quality video and audio without the copyrights and patents associated with the h2.64 format championed by Apple and Microsoft.
From the ground up WebM files are designed to work on a variety of devices including netbooks and smartphones. In addition to the open encoders, WebM uses the Matroska container, which supports streaming, subtitles, chapter notations, menus and multiple audio channels.
The WebM Project operates under a BSD-style license where the VP8 bitstream is free and can be modified, sold and imported, but can be revoked, should patent litigation be pursued. For more information on the WebM Project, visit webmproject.org.
Tag Cloud
News
-
FSF Outs the World Wide Web Consortium over DRM Proposal
Richard Stallman calls for the W3C to remain independent of vendor interests.
-
Debian 7.0 Debuts
The new release supports nine architectures, 73 human languages, and zero non-Free components.
-
Alpha Version of Fedora 19 Released
Fedora developers release the first alpha version of Fedora 19, known as Schrödinger’s Cat, for general testing. The final release is expected in July 2013.
-
ack 2.0 Released
ack is a grep-like, command-line tool that has been optimized for programmers to search large trees of source code.
-
SUSE Studio 1.3 Released
New features in SUSE Studio 1.3 include enhanced cloud integration, VM platform support, and lifecycle management.
-
Xen To Become Linux Foundation Collaborative Project
The Linux Foundation recently announced that the Xen Project is becoming a Linux Foundation Collaborative Project.
-
RunRev Releases Open Source Version of LiveCode
Open source version of LiveCode is now available for developing apps, games, and utilities for all major platforms.
-
OpenDaylight Project Formed
OpenDaylight is an open source software-defined networking project committed to furthering adoption of SDN and accelerating innovation in a vendor-neutral and open environment.
-
Gnome 3.8 Released
The new Gnome release includes privacy and sharing settings, allowing more user control over access to personal information.
-
Mozilla and Samsung Collaborate on New Browser Engine
Mozilla is collaborating with Samsung on a new web browser engine called Servo.