List of open-source codecs

This is a listing of open-source implementations of media formats—usually called codecs. Many of the codecs listed implement media formats that are restricted by patents and are hence not open formats. For example, x264 is a widely used open source implementation of the heavily patent encumbered MPEG-4 AVC media format.

Video codecs

• x264 – H.264/MPEG-4 AVC implementation. x264 is not a codec (encoder/decoder); it is just an encoder (it cannot decode video).
• OpenH264 – H.264 baseline profile encoding and decoding
• x265 – An encoder based on the High Efficiency Video Coding (HEVC/H.265) standard.
• Xvid – MPEG-4 Part 2 codec, compatible with DivX
• libvpx – VP8 and VP9 implementation; formerly a proprietary codec developed by On2 Technologies, released by Google under a BSD-like license in May 2010.
• FFmpeg codecs – Codecs in the libavcodec library from the FFmpeg project (FFV1, Snow, MPEG-1, MPEG-2, MPEG-4 part 2, MSMPEG-4, WMV2, SVQ1, MJPEG, HuffYUV and others). Decoders in the libavcodec (H.264, SVQ3, WMV3, VP3, Theora, Indeo, Dirac, Lagarith and others).
• Lagarith – Video codec designed for strong lossless compression in RGB(A) colorspace (similar to ZIP/RAR/etc.)
• libtheora – A reference implementation of the Theora format, based on VP3, part of the Ogg Project
• Dirac as dirac-research, a wavelet based codec created by the BBC Research, and Schrödinger, an implementation developed by David Schleef.^[1]
• Huffyuv – Lossless codec from BenRG
• Daala (working name) – Video codec under development by the Xiph.Org Foundation. Daala is intended to be a high-efficiency codec for use cases similar to those of High Efficiency Video Coding (HEVC or H.265) and VP9.

Audio codecs

• FLAC – Lossless codec developed by Xiph.Org Foundation.
• LAME – Lossy compression (MP3 format).
• TooLAME/TwoLAME – Lossy compression (MP2 format).
• Musepack – Lossy compression; based on MP2 format, with many improvements.
• Speex – Low bitrate compression, primarily voice; developed by Xiph.Org Foundation. Deprecated in favour of Opus according to www.speex.org.
• CELT – Lossy compression for low-latency audio communication
• Opus – The IETF standards-track successor to CELT. (Opus support is mandatory for WebRTC implementations.)
• libvorbis – Lossy compression, implementation of the Vorbis format; developed by Xiph.Org Foundation.
• iLBC – Low bitrate compression, primarily voice
• iSAC – Low bitrate compression, primarily voice; (free when using the WebRTC codebase)
• TTA – Lossless compression
• WavPack – Hybrid lossy/lossless
• Bonk – Hybrid lossy/lossless; supported by fre:ac (formerly BonkEnc)
• Apple Lossless – Lossless compression (MP4)
• Fraunhofer FDK AAC – Lossy compression (AAC)
• FFmpeg codecs in the libavcodec library, e.g. AC-3, AAC, ADPCM, PCM, Apple Lossless, FLAC, WMA, Vorbis, MP2, etc.
• FAAD2 – open-source decoder for Advanced Audio Coding. There is also FAAC, the same project's encoder, but it is proprietary (but still free of charge).
• libgsm – Lossy compression (GSM 06.10)
• opencore-amr – Lossy compression (AMR and AMR-WB)
• liba52 – a free ATSC A/52 stream decoder (AC-3)
• libdca – a free DTS Coherent Acoustics decoder
• Codec2 - Lossy compression

See also

• List of codecs
  • Comparison of video codecs
  • Comparison of audio coding formats
• Comparison of video player software
• Comparison of audio player software
• Free file format

References