So these were some open audio formats for now. Next time I will come back with the Players….
Keep Checking.
Friday, April 13, 2007
Speex
Speex is another product from Xiph.org, it is sort of the Ogg Vorbis answer to speech compression. As unlike music, speech is a lot simpler, and requires much lower bitrates to be aurally readable. As a result, it requires much lower bitrates and a different algorithm.
Speex is open source, and can be added to ogg container. It uses VBR (Variable Bitrate Encoding) process to provide the best combination with the best compression ratio. Its was mainly developed for VoIP, and uses a unique loss concealment technology that masks dropped UDP packets, to prevent crackling and breaking of voice data.
Speex is open source, and can be added to ogg container. It uses VBR (Variable Bitrate Encoding) process to provide the best combination with the best compression ratio. Its was mainly developed for VoIP, and uses a unique loss concealment technology that masks dropped UDP packets, to prevent crackling and breaking of voice data.
LAME
Lame is perhaps one of the most popular of audio codecs. It is used with MP3 container and is what the majority of software applications use for ripping CDs. It uses a lossy algorithm to compress audio, mainly for streaming purposes and portable music players.
As far as its comparison with Ogg Vorbis, WMA and AAC goes it seriously is lacking. However, because of the popularity of the MP3 format, and the wide acceptance with majority of audio players people gladly overlook the compromise on quality and file sizes.
But due to the push from Microsoft for its own Windows Media Format (WMA/WMV), has resulted in a lot of devices being both WMA and MP3 compatible. WMA though is free from patent woes still isn’t open source like LAME.
Also Check MP3Dev
As far as its comparison with Ogg Vorbis, WMA and AAC goes it seriously is lacking. However, because of the popularity of the MP3 format, and the wide acceptance with majority of audio players people gladly overlook the compromise on quality and file sizes.
But due to the push from Microsoft for its own Windows Media Format (WMA/WMV), has resulted in a lot of devices being both WMA and MP3 compatible. WMA though is free from patent woes still isn’t open source like LAME.
Also Check MP3Dev
FLAC
FLAC, or Free Lossless Audio Codec, is another open source audio codec, but unlike MP3, Vorbis or others, it’s lossless compression. This means that you can rip the audio CD without loosing any data or quality whatsoever.
To explain lossless, just take the example of wizip. When you zip files up in wizip it decreases the size and saves space but when you unzip them everything is back to normal shape and usability without any loss. Similarly, when you use lossless codecs such as FLAC, none of the digital data is lost –It’s like zipping a CD audio file and then unzipping it during playback.
FLAC can be found at sourceforge and can be used to compress audio, and used with the ogg container to give Ogg FLAC –or FLAC encoded Ogg files.
Advantage:
-Its quite fast, both when encoding or decoding
-Its natively seekable and streamable (so you don’t really need containers like Ogg unless you have to play it in your ogg enabled or ogg supporting portable music player)
Overall, FLAC is good for audiophiles who want CD-quality data on the go.
To explain lossless, just take the example of wizip. When you zip files up in wizip it decreases the size and saves space but when you unzip them everything is back to normal shape and usability without any loss. Similarly, when you use lossless codecs such as FLAC, none of the digital data is lost –It’s like zipping a CD audio file and then unzipping it during playback.
FLAC can be found at sourceforge and can be used to compress audio, and used with the ogg container to give Ogg FLAC –or FLAC encoded Ogg files.
Advantage:
-Its quite fast, both when encoding or decoding
-Its natively seekable and streamable (so you don’t really need containers like Ogg unless you have to play it in your ogg enabled or ogg supporting portable music player)
Overall, FLAC is good for audiophiles who want CD-quality data on the go.
Ogg Vorbis
It is perhaps the most popular audio container and has .ogg as extension. Its very common with media players now but if your player does not support it then don’t just worry cause all the needed plugins are easily available online.
Unlike other patented formats like MP3, AAC etc. ogg is completely free. It was developed by Xiph.org and Vorbis is the compression algorithm. Ogg is still maintained by the original developers Xiph.org (Xiph here is pronounced as zif).
Ogg vorbis is generally considered a much better compression format than MP# and is comparable to WMA and AAC (if not better in some cases). Files compressed using Vorbis is smaller than their MP3 counterparts of comparable audio quality. Also as it is completely open source and free, artists who use it to distribute their music have to pay no extra charges or royalties to anybody for using the format.
Also as people say and somewhat I have also felt that the audio quality of a ogg vorbis file encoded at 128 kbps is comparable or even better than 192 Kbps MP3.
Unlike other patented formats like MP3, AAC etc. ogg is completely free. It was developed by Xiph.org and Vorbis is the compression algorithm. Ogg is still maintained by the original developers Xiph.org (Xiph here is pronounced as zif).
Ogg vorbis is generally considered a much better compression format than MP# and is comparable to WMA and AAC (if not better in some cases). Files compressed using Vorbis is smaller than their MP3 counterparts of comparable audio quality. Also as it is completely open source and free, artists who use it to distribute their music have to pay no extra charges or royalties to anybody for using the format.
Also as people say and somewhat I have also felt that the audio quality of a ogg vorbis file encoded at 128 kbps is comparable or even better than 192 Kbps MP3.
OPEN AUDIO Formats
This is to give a brief description of the open source audio formats which are generally in use. Some of the most popular a re Ogg vorbis(.ogg), FLAC, LAME and Speex. I will deal with the players later so just keep checking.
Tuesday, April 10, 2007
Project Maintenance and Services at SourceForge
SourceForge provides an assortment of very useful services to the users using its site for project development and some of them are listed below.
1. Compile Farm
The Compile Farm gives developers access to a number of different hosts that may be used for the compiling and testing of the code. These hosts all use different platforms for testing the softwares. Currently there are 12 hosts running 6 different operating systems and 5 different hardware profiles. For more information just check http://sourceforge.net/docs/compile_farm
2. CVS (Concurrent Versioning System)
It also provides with CVS while allowing you to centrally store your code. You are also provided with your own CVS space called Repository.
3. Publicity
Another huge advantage of hosting your projects at this site is publicity and loads of exposure that it is bound to get.
And yet a lot of services that I didn’t mention are there to help you out so just go on and try it out.
1. Compile Farm
The Compile Farm gives developers access to a number of different hosts that may be used for the compiling and testing of the code. These hosts all use different platforms for testing the softwares. Currently there are 12 hosts running 6 different operating systems and 5 different hardware profiles. For more information just check http://sourceforge.net/docs/compile_farm
2. CVS (Concurrent Versioning System)
It also provides with CVS while allowing you to centrally store your code. You are also provided with your own CVS space called Repository.
3. Publicity
Another huge advantage of hosting your projects at this site is publicity and loads of exposure that it is bound to get.
And yet a lot of services that I didn’t mention are there to help you out so just go on and try it out.
SourceForge??
You must be wondering what SourceForge is…
For all those who are new to the Open Source Movement SourceForge http://www.sourceforge.net is one of the largest open source development site on the net. It claims to host more than 100,000 projects and has over 1,000,000 users registered with it. This in itself is a testament of the growing popularity of the Open Source Movement, which the site itself carries forward the definition by providing an open, collaborative environment. So here every body can share their efforts and technologies. This way we can share a useful and bug free code.
This site is basically owned by the OSTG (the Open Source Technology Group), Inc which also owns popular sites like linux.com, ThinkGeek and DevChannel.
If you feel like registering your account with it, then to tell its just a little bit complicated so just write in back if you need any help.
For all those who are new to the Open Source Movement SourceForge http://www.sourceforge.net is one of the largest open source development site on the net. It claims to host more than 100,000 projects and has over 1,000,000 users registered with it. This in itself is a testament of the growing popularity of the Open Source Movement, which the site itself carries forward the definition by providing an open, collaborative environment. So here every body can share their efforts and technologies. This way we can share a useful and bug free code.
This site is basically owned by the OSTG (the Open Source Technology Group), Inc which also owns popular sites like linux.com, ThinkGeek and DevChannel.
If you feel like registering your account with it, then to tell its just a little bit complicated so just write in back if you need any help.
Changing My Path
I know its getting pretty boring with all those facts…. So I am now turning all the attentions towards the Open Source Softwares… In case any of you need more knowledge on OSS please contact me and I will post for you. Till then here goes….
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