4 ms·

So my question is, what video codec should we be using? Is there a codec of sufficient quality that is completely open and free?

robin_reala 17y ago
Theora. Whether it’s of ‘sufficient’ quality is debatable, but for normal YouTube style videos it’s fine. For higher definition videos there’s Dirac, but that’s not really field tested yet.
- ZeroGravitas 17y ago
  They could probably get a good chunk of improvement out of Theora if they broke the spec, fixed a couple of things that either seemed sensible at the time or were just plain stupid and took advantage of what we've learned about codecs and assumptions about processors speeds and capabilities in the meantime. They haven't done so yet because there's still room for improvements to be wrung out of the current spec and the longer they wait to do a non-backwards compatible spec break the better they'll be able to make it. If Google releases one of the VP codecs then it's probably not going to be that much better than what xiph could have done if they weren't trying to keep compatability since they're based on the same core technology.
  - robin_reala 17y ago
    Yes, the Thusnelda improvements do seem to be paying dividends.
- KirinDave 17y ago
  "Normal YouTube style videos" are a historical target. The quality of video the end user is able to produce is progressing at a startling rate. Go to and see what even amateurs are doing, it's not just "My face in a small window with a bookcase in the background" anymore. In general, I've been disappointed with theora output for very high def stuff. What's more, the video standard affects more than just what software component you load. Vendors like Apple have devices which must support video playback in hardware. Without a very good solution there, theora is basically a non-starter. And people who complain that Apple should support Theora because it is free need to consider that, moving forward, mobile playback is extremely important.
  - ZeroGravitas 17y ago
    Here's Theora running on the chips used by the Droid, Nokia N900, Palm Pre etc. http://www.schleef.org/blog/2009/11/11/theora-on-ti-c64x-dsp-and-omap3/ http://www.schleef.org/blog/2009/11/11/theora-on-ti-c64x-dsp... Generally, this "hardware" decoding argument is bunk. It's just software in conjunction with a DSP. If your vendor gave you proprietary software that you can't update (and maybe they can't either if it's 3rd party) then that sucks, but it doesn't magically make it "hardware". Note the big thing holding it back from even better performance is private APIs that they can't yet(!) use in open source code, not any lack of "hardware".

robin_reala 17y ago

Theora. Whether it’s of ‘sufficient’ quality is debatable, but for normal YouTube style videos it’s fine. For higher definition videos there’s Dirac, but that’s not really field tested yet.

ZeroGravitas 17y ago
They could probably get a good chunk of improvement out of Theora if they broke the spec, fixed a couple of things that either seemed sensible at the time or were just plain stupid and took advantage of what we've learned about codecs and assumptions about processors speeds and capabilities in the meantime. They haven't done so yet because there's still room for improvements to be wrung out of the current spec and the longer they wait to do a non-backwards compatible spec break the better they'll be able to make it. If Google releases one of the VP codecs then it's probably not going to be that much better than what xiph could have done if they weren't trying to keep compatability since they're based on the same core technology.
- robin_reala 17y ago
  Yes, the Thusnelda improvements do seem to be paying dividends.
KirinDave 17y ago
"Normal YouTube style videos" are a historical target. The quality of video the end user is able to produce is progressing at a startling rate. Go to and see what even amateurs are doing, it's not just "My face in a small window with a bookcase in the background" anymore. In general, I've been disappointed with theora output for very high def stuff. What's more, the video standard affects more than just what software component you load. Vendors like Apple have devices which must support video playback in hardware. Without a very good solution there, theora is basically a non-starter. And people who complain that Apple should support Theora because it is free need to consider that, moving forward, mobile playback is extremely important.
- ZeroGravitas 17y ago
  Here's Theora running on the chips used by the Droid, Nokia N900, Palm Pre etc. http://www.schleef.org/blog/2009/11/11/theora-on-ti-c64x-dsp-and-omap3/ http://www.schleef.org/blog/2009/11/11/theora-on-ti-c64x-dsp... Generally, this "hardware" decoding argument is bunk. It's just software in conjunction with a DSP. If your vendor gave you proprietary software that you can't update (and maybe they can't either if it's 3rd party) then that sucks, but it doesn't magically make it "hardware". Note the big thing holding it back from even better performance is private APIs that they can't yet(!) use in open source code, not any lack of "hardware".