TheXiph.Org Foundation is anonprofit organization that producesfreemultimedia formats and software tools. It focuses on theOgg family of formats, the most successful of which has beenVorbis, an open and freely licensed audio format andcodec designed to compete with the patentedWMA,MP3 andAAC. As of 2013, development work was focused onDaala, an open and patent-free video format and codec designed to compete withVP9 and the patentedHigh Efficiency Video Coding.
In addition to its in-house development work, the foundation has also brought several already-existing but complementaryfree software projects under its aegis, most of which have a separate, active group of developers. These includeSpeex, an audio codec designed for speech, andFLAC, a lossless audio codec.
The Xiph.Org Foundation has criticizedMicrosoft and theRIAA for their lack of openness.[6] They state that if companies like Microsoft had ownedpatents on the Internet, then other companies would have tried to compete, and "The Net, as designed by warring corporate entities, would be a battleground of incompatible and expensive 'standards' had it actually survived at all." They also criticize the RIAA for their support of projects such as theSecure Digital Music Initiative.
Chris Montgomery, creator of theOgg container format, founded the Xiphophorus company and later the Xiph.Org Foundation.[8] The first work that became the Ogg media projects started in 1994.[9] The name "Xiph" abbreviates the original organizational name, "Xiphophorus", named after thecommon swordtail fish,Xiphophorus hellerii.[10] It was officially incorporated on 15 May 1996 as Xiphophorus, Inc.[11] The name "Xiphophorus company" was used until 2002,[12][13][14] when it was renamed to Xiph.Org Foundation.[15]
In 1999, the Xiphophorus company defined itself on its website as"a distributed group of Free and Open Source programmers working to protect the foundations of Internet multimedia from domination by self-serving corporate interests."[16]
In 2002, the Xiph.Org Foundation defined itself on its website as"a non-profit corporation dedicated to protecting the foundations of Internet multimedia from control by private interests."[15]
In March 2003, the Xiph.Org Foundation was recognized by theIRS as a 501(c)(3) Non-Profit Organization,[17] which means that U.S. citizens can deduct donations made to Xiph.Org from their taxes.
Xiph QuickTime Components are implementations of theOgg container along with theSpeex,Theora,FLAC andVorbiscodecs forQuickTime. It allows users to use Ogg files in any application that uses QuickTime for audio and video file support, such asiTunes andQuickTime Player.
Since QuickTime Components do not function inmacOS Sierra and above, the project was discontinued in 2016.[22]
^"libao: a cross platform audio library". Xiph.Org. RetrievedJune 29, 2009.Libao is a cross-platform audio library that allows programs to output audio using a simple API on a wide variety of platforms.
