What is Ogg?

Ogg is professional-grade media format. Ogg Vorbis encodes audio and Ogg Theora encodes video.

Read the PlayOgg.org press release. Get involved in the campaign. Join the PlayOgg mailing list.

How do I use Ogg?

To access streaming Ogg Vorbis and Ogg Theora files you need a media player that understands these formats. Many different free software players work with Ogg. We like one called VLC Media Player. To download and install it, please follow the instructions below.

Why use Ogg?

No Patent Restrictions!

Unlike MP3, Ogg Vorbis is not restricted by patents. Microsoft had to pay $1.5 billion after being sued for using MP3 without a license. With Ogg Vorbis, they would have been safe!

These patent lawsuits might never affect you directly, but they create a culture where creative and skilled individuals cannot develop multimedia software without fear of being legally attacked. Using Ogg is one way to support them in their efforts and to encourage a better culture.

Choose Free Software!

RealPlayer, Windows Media Player, and other popular formats require people to use non-free software: controlled by companies, not by the users. The companies that control the software design it to restrict the users and spy on them. If you choose Ogg Vorbis and Ogg Theora, you can listen to audio and stream video using many different media players, including free software that respects your freedom.

Nothing to Lose!

You don't lose any technical quality with Ogg Vorbis. It can compress down to a smaller size than MP3 while still sounding good. Best of all, it is designed to be completely free of patents and does not require the use of proprietary software.

Installing VLC Media Player

Here is VLC in action. Click on the image to view a larger version.

Before beginning you may want to bookmark this page since you will need to restart the browser.

Microsoft Windows XP:

These instructions require you to have the rights to install software on your computer. If you are at work or school, you might not have this. You might need to switch to an "Administrative" account in order for them to work.

1. Download VLC.
2. Double-click the VLC file to install VLC.
3. When the install options present themselves, make sure that the "Install Mozilla Plugin" is selected so that you can view streaming media in Ogg format while browsing the web.
4. After the install completes, restart Firefox.
5. Test to see that everything installed properly in Firefox.. If you see video and hear audio it is working.

Apple Mac OSX (Version 10.3.9 or later):

1. Download VLC.
2. Now to install the Firefox plugin:
3. • For PowerPC Mac: Download the VLC plugin (scroll down to the PowerPC section).
   • For Intel Mac: Download the VLC plugin (scroll down to the Intel section).
   • Open the file and install. After the install completes, restart Firefox.
4. Test to see that everything installed properly in Firefox.

If you see video and hear audio it is working.

Show your support

To help promote this excellent format place this web button on your webpage or blog.

If you want to download the image, here is some sample code for your page. To use it make sure you save the button as play_ogg.png.

If you prefer, you can link against our copy.  To select the large or small button simply replace the word medium in the code below with large or small.

Get Involved in the Campaign

Play Ogg Mailing List: Join

Additional Resources

The authors of Ogg: Xiph

The playback software: VLC

Learn more about Ogg at Wikipedia.

Ogg Vorbis friendly sites