Ogg Videos and HTML 5

According to the Free Software Foundation, the free video format Ogg Theora is currently (2009) supported by 24% of browsers in use worldwide.

This format is not subject to any patent and delivers a power of compression and video quality in high definition similar to other formats used on the Web.

Ogg and HTML 5

Even if the stakeholders (mainly Google, Apple and Mozilla) have not reached agreement on a standard video format for HTML 5, ogg is recognized by the video tag and using it is very simple, with a such code:

<video src="video.ogv"></video>  

This is for a file stored locally on the site.

The file extension is sufficient to identify the format. To use a video from a sharing site, add this code:

<video src="http://www.youtube.com/video.ogv"></video>

This better replaces all the code of the flash player and allows to use additional functions with this tag.

<video src="video.ogv" width="600" height="400" autoplay> Your browser does not support the  video tag.</ video>

It is always possible to place the code in flash instead of the message between the tags for the browser does not support HTML 5. This can be done dynamically.

Theora manual (see references) provides further details on the use of the format.

Site supporting the format

These sites host videos in Ogg format.

• TinyVid.tv.
• Dailymotion.
• Archive.org.

References, tools and documentation

• Firefogg. Extension for Firefox.
• VLC. The popular reader recognizes the video format Ogg, for desktop use.
• ffmpeg2theora. Converts all formats to OGG.
• Theora manual. Using the format.