Alternative for MP3: Ogg Vorbis and how to convert it

Ogg Vorbis is a free audio codec for lossy audio compression. Properly Vorbis stands for the actual audio-encoder. Ogg was created by the Xiph.Org Foundation as an alternative for the widespread MP3 format. It supports unto 255 channels with variable bitrate and it is stream-able. Vorbis data usually is embedded in an Ogg-Container (.ogg) which also was developed by the Xiph.Org Foundation. Moreover it can also be contained in Matroska or OGM containers.

In the year 1998 the Frauenhofer Institut announced that the spreading or the disposal of MP3-Audio-Codec-Software is protected by license. Thus one had to pay a special license fee for commercial use. Due to this fact Christopher Montgomery started to develop an audio codec that should be free for everyone.

In the year 2000 the Ogg Vorbis project was revealed to the public and two years later the licens was changed. Thereby the usage in commercial hardware was mainly simplified. In 2003 hardware companies commenced to deliver their products with Vorbis support.

Today a couple of music players from vendors like iRiver or iAudio are capable of playing Ogg files. One of the main differences between MP3 and Ogg Vorbis is their license. Whereas MP3 as well as AAC are patented and one has to get a license for their usage, Ogg Vorbis is totally free. Technically speaking Ogg Vorbis and AAC are able to more efficiently compress than MP3 does. Its audio quality is even with strong compression usable for language recordings.

Software for Vorbis playback is available for all modern operating systems. In most Linux distributions Ogg playback is a priori included. Popular multimedia players for Windows are Foobar, VLC Video Player or Winamp. To compensate for some of Ogg Vorbis weaknesses an optimized encoder named aoTuV (Aoyumi’s Tuned Vorbis) was developed. Especially for low bitrates or strong compressions this encoder is capable of improving sound quality with Ogg.

If you would like to convert Ogg Vorbis files into MP3, you can use the software Tunebite. Download your free Trial!

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