Xiph.Org Foundation

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Xiph.org Foundation
Type 501(c)(3)
Founded 1994 (1994)
Founder(s) Christopher Montgomery
Headquarters
Key people Christopher Montgomery, Jack Moffitt, Ralph Giles (Theora), Jean-Marc Valin (Speex, CELT, Opus),[1] Josh Coalson (FLAC), Michael Smith, Timothy B. Terriberry[2][3][4][5]
Area served Worldwide
Product(s) Free multimedia formats, libraries, and streaming software
Website xiph.org

Xiph.Org Foundation is a non-profit organization[6] that produces free multimedia formats and software tools. It focuses on the Ogg family of formats, and the most successful one has been Vorbis, an open and freely licensed audio format and codec designed to compete with the patented MP3 and AAC. As of 2013, the current development work is focusing on Daala, an open and patent-free video format and codec designed to compete with the patented High Efficiency Video Coding and VP9.

In addition to its in-house development work, the Foundation has also brought several already-existing but complementary free software projects under its aegis, most of which have a separate, active group of developers. These include Speex, an audio codec designed for speech, and FLAC, a lossless audio codec.

The Xiph.Org Foundation has criticized Microsoft and the RIAA for their lack of openness.[7] They state that if companies like Microsoft owned patents on the Internet, then other companies would try to compete, and "The Net, as designed by warring corporate entities, would be a battleground of incompatible and expensive 'standards' had it actually survived at all." They also condemn the RIAA for their support of projects such as Secure Digital Music Initiative.

In 2008 the Free Software Foundation listed the Xiph.Org projects as High Priority Free Software Projects.[8]

History

Chris Montgomery, creator of the Ogg container format, founded the Xiphophorus company and later the Xiph.Org Foundation.[9] The first work that became the Ogg media projects started in 1994.[10] The name "Xiph" abbreviates the original organizational name, "Xiphophorus", named after the common swordtail fish, Xiphophorus hellerii.[11] The name "Xiphophorus company" was used until 2002,[12][13][14] when it was renamed to Xiph.Org Foundation.[15]

In 1999, the Xiphophorus company defined itself on its website as "a distributed group of Free and Open Source programmers working to protect the foundations of Internet multimedia from domination by self-serving corporate interests."[16]

In 2002, the Xiph.Org Foundation defined itself on its website as "a non-profit corporation dedicated to protecting the foundations of Internet multimedia from control by private interests."[15]

In March 2003, the Xiph.Org Foundation was recognized by the IRS as a 501(c)(3) Non-Profit Organization,[17] which means that U.S. citizens can deduct donations made to Xiph.Org from their taxes.

Xiph.Org Foundation projects

  • Ogg - a multimedia container format, a reference implementation, and the native file and stream format for the Xiph.org multimedia codecs
    • Vorbis - a lossy audio compression format and software
    • Theora - a lossy video compression format and software
    • FLAC - a lossless audio compression format and software
    • Speex - a lossy speech encoding format and software (deprecated)
    • CELT - an ultra-low delay lossy audio compression format that has been merged into Opus, and is now obsolete
    • Opus - a low delay lossy audio compression format originally intended for VoIP
    • Tremor - an integer-only implementation of the Vorbis audio decoder for embedded devices (software)
    • OggPCM - an encapsulation of PCM audio data inside the Ogg container format
    • OggUVS - an uncompressed video codec for Ogg (a work in progress and not a final proposal)
    • Skeleton[18] - a structuring information for multi-track Ogg files (a logical bitstream within an Ogg stream)
    • RTP-containers for Vorbis, Theora, Speex and Opus.
    • CMML - an XML-based markup language for time-continuous data (a timed text codec; deprecated)
    • Ogg Writ - a text phrase codec (no longer maintained)
    • Ogg Squish - a lossless audio compression format and software (discontinued)
    • Tarkin - an experimental lossy video compression; no stable release (discontinued)[19]
    • Daala - a video compression format[20]
    • Kate - an overlay codec that can carry animated text and images.
  • libao - an audio-output library that operates on different platforms[21]
  • OpenCodecs - a codec pack for Windows, by Xiph and the WebM Project
  • Annodex - an encapsulation format, which interleaves time-continuous data with CMML markup in a streamable manner
  • Icecast - an open source multi-platform streaming server (software)
  • Ices - a source client for broadcasting in Ogg Vorbis or MP3 format to an icecast2 server (software)
  • IceShare - an unfinished peercasting system for Ogg multimedia (no longer maintained)
  • cdparanoia - an open source CD Audio extraction tool that aims to be bit-perfect (currently unmaintained)
  • XSPF - an XML Shareable Playlist Format

References

  1. ↑ Xiph.org people.xiph.org - personal webspace of the xiphs - Jean-Marc Valin, Retrieved 2009-09-11
  2. ↑ Timothy B. Terriberry (2009). "people.xiph.org - Timothy B. Terriberry, Ph.D.". Xiph.Org. Retrieved 2009-09-11. 
  3. ↑ [http://wiki.xiph.org/Summer_of_Code_Mentoring#What_criteria_did_you_use_to_select_these_individuals_as_mentors.3F_Please_be_as_specific_as_possible. "Summer of Code Mentoring"]. Xiph.Org. 2009. Retrieved 2009-09-11. 
  4. ↑ "Minutes of the Xiph.org Monthly Meeting for May 2003". 2003-05-10. Retrieved 2009-09-11. 
  5. ↑ "Minutes of the Xiph.org Monthly Meeting for September 2003". Xiph.Org. 2003-09-16. Retrieved 2009-09-11. 
  6. ↑ "Fundraising". Xiph.org. Retrieved 2008-08-25. 
  7. ↑ "About". Xiph.org. Retrieved 2011-03-05. 
  8. ↑ "High Priority Free Software Projects". Free Software Foundation. Retrieved 2008-08-25. 
  9. ↑ "Xiph.org: Contact information". Xiph.org. Retrieved 2008-08-25. 
  10. ↑ "A Challenger to MP3?". Tristan Louis. 2001-01-16. Retrieved 2008-09-02. 
  11. ↑ "naming". Xiph.org. Retrieved 2008-08-25. 
  12. ↑ Brian Zisk (2000-04-19). "vorbis - Dvorak Interviews Monty". Retrieved 2008-09-04. 
  13. ↑ Advogado (2000-04-04). "Interview: Christopher Montgomery of Xiphophorus". Advogado. Retrieved 2009-09-02. 
  14. ↑ Xiphophorus company (2001-12-12). "Xiphophorus home". Archive.org. Archived from the original on 2001-12-12. Retrieved 2009-09-02. 
  15. ↑ 15.0 15.1 Xiph.org Foundation (2002-11-27). "Xiph.org home". Archive.org. Archived from the original on 2002-11-27. Retrieved 2009-09-02. 
  16. ↑ Xiphophorus company (1999-11-28). "Xiphophorus home". Archive.org. Archived from the original on 1999-11-28. Retrieved 2009-09-02. 
  17. ↑ Xiph.Org (2003-03-24) Speex reaches 1.0; Xiph.Org now a 501(c)(3) Non-Profit Organization, Retrieved 2009-09-01
  18. ↑ Wiki.xiph.org
  19. ↑ Michael Smith (2005-08-29) Tarkin, vorbis-dev mailinglist, Retrieved 2009-09-06
  20. ↑ https://xiph.org/daala/
  21. ↑ "libao: a cross platform audio library". Xiph.Org. Retrieved 2009-06-29. "Libao is a cross-platform audio library that allows programs to output audio using a simple API on a wide variety of platforms." 

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