Ogg Vorbis

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Ogg Vorbis is an audio compression format that is comparable to mp3 compression. Ogg Vorbis uses a lossy compression method, meaning that some data is discarded to allow for greater compression. This is the same compression method used in mp3 audio files, and the loss is usually negligible.

Ogg Vorbis was created by and is maintained by the Xiph.Org Foundation (http://www.xiph.org/).


Table of contents
1 Licensing
2 Ogg Usage
3 Games Using Ogg Vorbis
4 External Links
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Licensing

Ogg Vorbis is an Open Source audio compression format, released under a BSD style licence (http://www.xiph.org/licenses/bsd/). This means it is free to use both commercial and non-commercial use, with no licence or usage fees. This is in contrast to the mp3 format which requires an licence fee (http://www.mp3licensing.com/) based on its intended use.


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Ogg Usage

Due to its high compression rate, Ogg files are commonly used for audio streaming and music playback, rather then individual sound effects.

The Xiph.Org Foundation has released various Vorbis libraries and SDK's which enable Ogg files to be easily incorporated into applications and games with a minimum amount of code and hassle. They have also created libraries to deal with the conversion to and from Ogg files, which means it is simple for developers to access the Ogg format in all its variants.

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Games Using Ogg Vorbis

As the Ogg Vorbis file format is cost free, it is a highly attractive proposition to game developers. The following is a small list of developers currently using Ogg Vorbis in their applications.

  • Epic Games (Unreal and its variants)
  • Crystal Dynamics (Soul Reaver 2, Blood Omen 2)
  • Croteam (Serious Sam: The Second Encounter)
  • Pyrogon (Candy Cruncher)
  • PopCap Games (Alchemy)
  • EA Games (Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets)


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External Links


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