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.ogg files

Posted: Sat Jan 15, 2005 1:50 am
by godzy
What exactly are .ogg files and how do you play them?
I've seen them used on torrent sites several times but have little or no idea what they are or how to use them. They seem to be used in audio files a lot though.

Wow, I'm ignorant.
Could anyone tech savy 'splain this to me?
Thank ye kindly!

Posted: Sat Jan 15, 2005 2:22 am
by Default
It's a sound file format used in linux. That's about all I know.

Posted: Sat Jan 15, 2005 2:24 am
by godzy
oh...is it possible to convert linux files to, um, microsoft type files? :?

*Ninja Edit*
Google is my friend

Posted: Sat Jan 15, 2005 3:00 am
by warning
.ogg files are an open source standard for compressed music. The closest comparison would be to mp3 files. Generally the sound quality is higher than mp3. .ogg is becoming more popular - I think UT2K4 used .ogg files for its music.

Many music players can handle them. Media Player Classic would be a good place to start. You can also convert them using dbPower Amp Music Converter.

Posted: Sat Jan 15, 2005 4:21 am
by Fireball
OGG is actually a wrapper file format, like QuickTime's .mov , which can contain audio or video data encoded in various formats. The most common codec inside an OGG files is the Vorbis format. Ogg and Vorbis are both GPL'ed free software, and thus popular on Linux.

The Ogg-Vorbis codec is available for most media players. However, most portable players cannot play the files because the Vorbis codec requires a floating-point capable processor for playback. Newer versions can get by with a software-based floating point, but most players don't have OS support for that, either.

In terms of quality, Ogg-Vorbis files are similar to WMA and AAC -- better than MP3, but then, what isn't?