List of open-source codecs

This is a listing of open-source implementations of media formats—usually called codecs. Many of the codecs listed implement media formats that are restricted by patents and are henceforth not open formats. For example, x264 is a widely used open source implementation of the heavily patent encumbered MPEG-4 AVC media format.

Video codecs

• x264 – H.264/MPEG-4 AVC implementation. x264 is not a codec (encoder/decoder); it is just an encoder (it cannot decode video).
• Xvid – MPEG-4 Part 2 codec, compatible with DivX
• libvpx – VP8 implementation; formerly a proprietary codec developed by On2 Technologies, released by Google under a BSD-like license in May 2010.^[1][2][3][4]
• FFmpeg codecs – Codecs in the libavcodec library from the FFmpeg project (FFV1, Snow, MPEG-1, MPEG-2, MPEG-4 part 2, MSMPEG-4, WMV2, SVQ1, MJPEG, HuffYUV and others). Decoders in the libavcodec (H.264, SVQ3, WMV3, VP3, Theora, Indeo, Dirac, Lagarith and others).
• Lagarith – Video codec designed for strong lossless compression in RGB(A) colorspace (similar to ZIP/RAR/etc.)
• libtheora – A reference implementation of the Theora format, based on VP3, part of the Ogg Project
• Tarkin – An experimental and now obsolete lossy video codec formerly under development by the Xiph.org Foundation, replaced by Theora
• dirac-research – A wavelet based codec created by the BBC Research. It is the software reference implementation of Dirac.
• Schrödinger – A Dirac implementation developed by David Schleef.^[5]
• Huffyuv – Lossless codec from BenRG
• OpenAVS – Audio Video Standard (AVS) codec with 90% of its patents owned by Chinese companies and government.

Audio codecs

• FLAC – Lossless compression.
• LAME – Lossy compression (MP3 format).
• TooLAME – Lossy compression (MP2 format).
• Musepack – Lossy compression; based on MP2 format, with many improvements.
• Speex – Low bitrate compression, primarily voice; developed by Xiph.org.
• CELT – Lossy compression for low-latency audio communication
• Opus – The IETF standards-track successor to CELT
• libvorbis – Lossy compression, implementation of the Vorbis format; developed by Xiph.org.
• iLBC – Low bitrate compression, primarily voice
• iSAC – Low bitrate compression, primarily voice; (free when using the WebRTC codebase)
• TTA – Lossless compression
• WavPack – Hybrid lossy/lossless
• Apple Lossless – Lossless compression (MP4)
• OpenAVS
• FFmpeg – Codecs in the libavcodec library from the FFmpeg project (e.g. AC-3, AAC, ADPCM, PCM, Apple Lossless, FLAC, WMA, Vorbis, MP2, etc.)
• FAAD2 – open-source decoder for Advanced Audio Coding. There is also FAAC, the same project's encoder, but it is proprietary (but still free of charge).
• libgsm – Lossy compression (GSM 06.10)^[6]
• opencore-amr – Lossy compression (AMR and AMR-WB)^[7]
• liba52 – a free ATSC A/52 stream decoder (AC-3)^[8]
• libdca – a free DTS Coherent Acoustics decoder^[9]
• Aften – Lossy compression (AC-3 format).
• dcaenc – Lossy compression (DTS format).

Text Codecs

(generally used for subtitles/closed captioning)

• Writ
• Kate

See also

Free software portal

• FFmpeg, cross-platform, open source, audio and video codecs suite/library
• List of multimedia (audio/video) codecs
  • Comparison of video codecs
  • Comparison of audio codecs
• List of other software video players
• List of other software media players
• Free file format
• Comparison of video encoders

References