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Matroska (common file extensions being .mkv and .mka) is a project to develop an open source multimedia container format similar to Apple's QuickTime, MPEG's MP4 or Microsoft's Advanced Streaming Format. It is named after the Matryoshka doll. The Russian матрёшка would be transliterated into the Roman alphabet as Matryoshka. The official playback solution for the Windows operating system is the Combined Community Codec Pack.
The project was announced on December 7, 2002 as a fork of the Multimedia Container Format project, after disagreements with that project's creator about the use of the Extensible Binary Meta Language (EBML) instead of another binary format. The founders of the Matroska project believe that the use of EBML brings them a number of advantages, including making it easier to extend the format in the future as new developments occur or as the project goals change.
The project has a number of goals:
- create a modern, flexible, extensible, cross-platform multimedia container format that allows streaming across the Internet, fast seeking within a file and DVD-like menus
- develop a set of tools for the creation and editing of Matroska files, licensed under the GNU General Public License
- develop libraries that can be used to allow developers to add Matroska support to their applications, licensed under the GNU Lesser General Public License.
- work with hardware manufacturers to include Matroska support in embedded multimedia devices
- native Matroska support in various operating systems including Windows through DirectShow, Linux through the GStreamer multimedia framework and Haiku through its Mediakit.
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