Xiph.Org Foundation is a nonprofit organization that produces freemultimedia formats and software tools. It focuses on the Ogg family of formats, the most successful of which has been Vorbis, an open and freely licensed audio format and codec designed to compete with the patented WMA, MP3 and AAC. As of 2013, development work was focused on Daala, an open and patent-free video format and codec designed to compete with VP9 and the patented High Efficiency Video Coding. In addition to its in-house development work, the foundation has also brought several already-existing but complementary free software projects under its aegis, most of which have a separate, active group of developers. These include Speex, an audio codec designed for speech, and FLAC, a lossless audio codec. The Xiph.Org Foundation has criticized Microsoft and the RIAA for their lack of openness. They state that if companies like Microsoft had owned patents 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 the Secure Digital Music Initiative. In 2008, the Free Software Foundation listed the Xiph.Org projects as High Priority Free Software Projects.
History
, creator of the Ogg container format, founded the Xiphophorus company and later the Xiph.Org Foundation. The first work that became the Ogg media projects started in 1994. The name "Xiph" abbreviates the original organizational name, "Xiphophorus", named after the common swordtail fish, Xiphophorus hellerii. It was officially incorporated on 15 May 1996 as Xiphophorus, Inc. The name "Xiphophorus company" was used until 2002, when it was renamed to Xiph.Org Foundation. 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." 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." In March 2003, the Xiph.Org Foundation was recognized by the IRS as a 501 Non-Profit Organization, which means that U.S. citizens can deduct donations made to Xiph.Org from their taxes.
Xiph QuickTime Components are implementations of the Ogg container along with the Speex, Theora, FLAC and Vorbis codecs for QuickTime. It allows users to use Ogg files in any application that uses QuickTime for audio and video file support, such as iTunes and QuickTime Player. Since QuickTime Components does not function in macOS Sierra and above, the project was discontinued in 2016.
