[Foundation-l] Re: File format policy

Mon Feb 13 01:10:51 UTC 2006

Erik Moeller wrote:

> "It is allowed to upload files in patent-encumbered formats like MP3 or
> the MPEG-4 codecs only provided that a version in a non-encumbered
> format is also uploaded. Files which are only provided in
> patent-encumbered formats should be deleted."

The problem is, someone would need to check that each MPEG file had a
matching Ogg version. To do this, you need to play the MPEG file...

Some users complain that they can play MPEG but not Theora. I am in the
opposite situation. I installed MPlayer a few minutes ago to play
Storm.ogg, so I can play Ogg Theora, but I cannot play MPEG-4 because I
live in the United States but have not paid license royalties. I run
OpenBSD, so I also cannot obtain a licensed MPEG-4 player such as
RealPlayer, QuickTime, or Windows Media Player.

Suppose some user wants to check if the Storm.mp4 that someone uploaded is
the same as Storm.ogg. If this user has QuickTime, or lives in the European
Union, that might be easy. If I did the check, I would go to a different
computer with Mac OS X and QuickTime, which is an inconvenience for me, but
not impossible.

-- [[Wikibooks:en:User:Kernigh]], and there is almost no audio or video at
   en.Wikibooks, but I sometimes find it at Commons and en.Wikipedia