The Xiph.Org Foundation announces the release of Theora 1.0.
Theora is a video codec with a small CPU footprint that offers easy
portability and requires no patent royalties. While the Theora
bitstream format was standardized in 2004 and our beta releases have
been used by millions, this 1.0 release is an important milestone
reflecting the maturity and stability of the Theora codebase.
A number of leading multimedia web groups already support Theora.
Upcoming releases of Mozilla Firefox, the world's most popular open
source browser, will support Theora natively, as will releases of the
multi-platform Opera browser. Top-10 website Wikipedia uses Theora
for all of its video. "Open media formats are critical for ensuring a
future where everyone can create and share media freely," says Kat
Walsh, Wikimedia Foundation board member, "and so we congratulate
Xiph.org on this important achievement." Theora's success in these
applications paves the way for wider adoption.
The Theora 1.0 package includes a reference library using the
revised 3-clause BSD license, allowing use in all software, free or
proprietary. The reference library uses a new decoder which supports
the entire Theora specification and is significantly faster than
earlier versions. This high-performance decoder is already used on
the XO laptop from the OLPC project.
The package also supplies numerous resources for developers: a 190
page format specification, API documentation, example encoder and
decoder software, and a draft RTP specification for real-time
streaming.
Theora development does not stop with the 1.0 release. The
Xiph.Org Foundation has been working on a next-generation encoder,
codenamed 'Thusnelda', which has already demonstrated substantial
quality improvements without breaking backward compatibility. While
Theora is already the preferred format for applications where freedom,
CPU consumption, and cost are important, Thusnelda will make Theora
more attractive for applications where quality and bit-rate are the
only considerations. The new encoder is slated for inclusion in the
upcoming 1.1 release of Theora.
Theora 1.0 is available for download from the following URLs:
http://downloads.xiph.org/releases/theora/libtheora-1.0.tar.gz
http://downloads.xiph.org/releases/theora/libtheora-1.0.zip
Technical support is available through the theora at xiph.org general mailing
list and theora-dev at xiph.org developer mailing lists.
Theora is mature software; do not be afraid to try it. This
release reflects countless hours of debugging, manual code audits and
fuzz testing. A scan by the Coverity static analysis tool revealed
only two defects: one false alarm and the other now fixed. We would
like to thank all the volunteers involved in this project throughout
the years for their hard work. Your dedication helped improve Theora;
this release is dedicated to you.
The Xiph.Org Foundation is a not-for-profit corporation dedicated
to open, unencumbered multimedia technology. Xiph's formats and
software levels the playing field for digital media so that all
producers and artists can distribute their work for minimal cost,
without restriction, regardless of affiliation.
Happy Hacking!
Monty
Director, Xiph.Org