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Or perhaps people just don't want to have to pay a central licensing entity to use a video codec? I'm sure Google stands to save a lot of licensing fees if the

Or perhaps people just don't want to have to pay a central licensing entity to use a video codec? I'm sure Google stands to save a lot of licensing fees if they don't have to pay into MPEGLA's patent pool. It has nothing to do with FUD and everything to do with wanting an unencumbered format. Edit: This is the same reason that most video games these days use Ogg Vorbis for their music and sounds, because they save a lot of costs by using an unencumbered audio format.

wmf 16y ago
Paying $133M to avoid paying $5M/year is indeed creative business on Google's part.
- ZeroGravitas 16y ago
  It's now at least $6.5 Million a year, for another 20 year so the maths isn't that bad. Particularly if it prompts H.265 and any other future codec to be royalty free. I guess the idea is to spur on web video and make money from that though.
kenjackson 16y ago
This is the same reason that most video games these days use Ogg Vorbis for their music and sounds, because they save a lot of costs by using an unencumbered audio format. Are you sure about that? I'm sure a lot do, but I think a lot use WMA on Windows and XBox. I believe the encoder and decoder are free for use when developing games for those platforms. I think a different codec is then used for PS3 and Wii. I've certainly seen Vorbis used, but I think WMA is still used a fair bit more. I'd love to see evidence either way though.
- nuclear_eclipse 16y ago
  You are correct on consoles, as those are generally restricted by the manufacturer to using codecs that are burned into the hardware. But almost all of the latest PC games that I have played are using Ogg Vorbis for the audio.
redrobot5050 16y ago
Can you provide a source for the video games fact you quote? I would think that most games license engines/SDKs that already support/license MP3 and its included in their upfront toolchain cost, meaning they pay for it whether or not they use it.
- nuclear_eclipse 16y ago
  An out-of-date list can be found at http://wiki.xiph.org/Games_that_use_Vorbis http://wiki.xiph.org/Games_that_use_Vorbis Edit: some big names include World of Warcraft, Quake 4, Grand Theft Auto, and Eve Online.

wmf 16y ago

Paying $133M to avoid paying $5M/year is indeed creative business on Google's part.

ZeroGravitas 16y ago
It's now at least $6.5 Million a year, for another 20 year so the maths isn't that bad. Particularly if it prompts H.265 and any other future codec to be royalty free. I guess the idea is to spur on web video and make money from that though.

kenjackson 16y ago

This is the same reason that most video games these days use Ogg Vorbis for their music and sounds, because they save a lot of costs by using an unencumbered audio format. Are you sure about that? I'm sure a lot do, but I think a lot use WMA on Windows and XBox. I believe the encoder and decoder are free for use when developing games for those platforms. I think a different codec is then used for PS3 and Wii. I've certainly seen Vorbis used, but I think WMA is still used a fair bit more. I'd love to see evidence either way though.

nuclear_eclipse 16y ago
You are correct on consoles, as those are generally restricted by the manufacturer to using codecs that are burned into the hardware. But almost all of the latest PC games that I have played are using Ogg Vorbis for the audio.

redrobot5050 16y ago

Can you provide a source for the video games fact you quote? I would think that most games license engines/SDKs that already support/license MP3 and its included in their upfront toolchain cost, meaning they pay for it whether or not they use it.

nuclear_eclipse 16y ago
An out-of-date list can be found at http://wiki.xiph.org/Games_that_use_Vorbis http://wiki.xiph.org/Games_that_use_Vorbis Edit: some big names include World of Warcraft, Quake 4, Grand Theft Auto, and Eve Online.