Theora 1.0 Arrived, Thusnelda Following Soon
In times of YouTube and Co., a free video codec offers a good base for video enjoyment on the Internet -- independent from the interests of commercial providers. After a long development and some criticism, Ogg/Theora seems to be getting there. Yesterday saw the release of codec version 1.0, with Ogg in container format.
One criticism that spoke against the codec was speed. According to the press release, the reference library now utilizes a decoder that runs significantly faster than in earlier Theora versions. The release states that Xiph.org carried out a scan by the Coverity static analysis tool which revealed only two defects: one false alarm and the other now fixed.
Many webmasters have in the past reached for the proprietary Flash because the multiplatform format is well established and is usually problem-free, making it easy for inexperienced users to run. But Theora is catching up. The latest version of Opera and the next version of Firefox natively support the video codec, which should greatly increase its popularity. Wikipedia, the champions of openness, uses Theora for all of its videos.
It doesn't stop there. Xiph.org has been working on a next-generation encoder, codenamed 'Thusnelda' which hopes to make Theora more attractive for applications where cost and CPU consumption are not defining factors. Theora 1.0 can be downloaded as TAR.GZ-Archive or as ZIP-Archive from the download section of the Theora website.
Issue 255/2022
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