[LAU] What do you use for Vorvis audio? .ogg or .oga?

[Cory K.]

Hi All. I'm Cory. Lead on Ubuntu Studio. 1st post to this list. ;)

I have a pickle of a issue for a little app I'm working on. It takes
your FLAC collection and converts the entire thing to whatever format
you want with a couple of simple options.

Anyway, I'm unsure what extension to use for Vorbis audio because .ogg
is legacy and .oga should be used now. Issue is, going .oga might render
HW players that haven't updated to be able to use the extension.

From: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ogg

"The Xiph.Org Foundation decided to create a new set of file extensions
and media types to describe different types of content such as .oga for
audio only files, .ogv for video with or without sound (including
Theora), and .ogx for applications."

More reference:
http://wiki.xiph.org/index.php/MIME_Types_and_File_Extensions

To me, the only way to further adoption is to use the extension by
default. I talked to the oggenc dev and he has no intention of using .oga.

So this is all very vexing to me as to which way to go.

Do I use what is supposed to be the new replacement extension for Vorbis
audio or do I continue to go with respected Xiph devs and continue to
perpetuate a legacy extension with this little app of mine?

-Cory \m/

[h***@gmx.at]

On Sun, 13 Jul 2008 18:25:03 -0400

Post by Cory K.
Hi All. I'm Cory. Lead on Ubuntu Studio. 1st post to this list. ;)
I have a pickle of a issue for a little app I'm working on. It takes
your FLAC collection and converts the entire thing to whatever format
you want with a couple of simple options.
Anyway, I'm unsure what extension to use for Vorbis audio because .ogg
is legacy and .oga should be used now. Issue is, going .oga might
render HW players that haven't updated to be able to use the
extension.
From: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ogg
"The Xiph.Org Foundation decided to create a new set of file
extensions and media types to describe different types of content
such as .oga for audio only files, .ogv for video with or without
sound (including Theora), and .ogx for applications."
http://wiki.xiph.org/index.php/MIME_Types_and_File_Extensions
To me, the only way to further adoption is to use the extension by
default. I talked to the oggenc dev and he has no intention of
using .oga.
So this is all very vexing to me as to which way to go.
Do I use what is supposed to be the new replacement extension for
Vorbis audio or do I continue to go with respected Xiph devs and
continue to perpetuate a legacy extension with this little app of
mine?
-Cory \m/

Hi Cory,
I can't give you an answer but I suggest that you talk to other encoder
devs, like aoyumi, who make the wonderful aoTuV encoder, the guy who
makes the lancer builds and montgomery himself.
A first step could be a visit to the vorbis channel on freenode or a
mail to the vorbis list.

I personally don't think that the extension matters much, without
having talked to anybody knowledgeable I'd go for compatibility.

I'm looking forward to your app, wondering what separates it from apps
like soundconverter and soundkonverter ;)

Best Regards,
Philipp

[Folderol]

On Sun, 13 Jul 2008 18:25:03 -0400

Post by Cory K.
Hi All. I'm Cory. Lead on Ubuntu Studio. 1st post to this list. ;)

Hello :)

Post by Cory K.
I have a pickle of a issue for a little app I'm working on. It takes
your FLAC collection and converts the entire thing to whatever format
you want with a couple of simple options.
Anyway, I'm unsure what extension to use for Vorbis audio because .ogg
is legacy and .oga should be used now. Issue is, going .oga might render
HW players that haven't updated to be able to use the extension.
From: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ogg
"The Xiph.Org Foundation decided to create a new set of file extensions
and media types to describe different types of content such as .oga for
audio only files, .ogv for video with or without sound (including
Theora), and .ogx for applications."
http://wiki.xiph.org/index.php/MIME_Types_and_File_Extensions
To me, the only way to further adoption is to use the extension by
default. I talked to the oggenc dev and he has no intention of using .oga.
So this is all very vexing to me as to which way to go.
Do I use what is supposed to be the new replacement extension for Vorbis
audio or do I continue to go with respected Xiph devs and continue to
perpetuate a legacy extension with this little app of mine?
-Cory \m/

I would say stick with ogg until you see a *very* significant number of
oga's in the wild. I've seen none so far, and there is no point in
using an extension that nothing recognises. I would guess that players
will eventuall be produced that will accept both extensions.

Maybe have a switch in your app so it can be changed later.

[Erik de Castro Lopo]

Post by Cory K.
From: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ogg
"The Xiph.Org Foundation decided to create a new set of file extensions
and media types to describe different types of content such as .oga for
audio only files, .ogv for video with or without sound (including
Theora), and .ogx for applications."
http://wiki.xiph.org/index.php/MIME_Types_and_File_Extensions
To me, the only way to further adoption is to use the extension by
default. I talked to the oggenc dev and he has no intention of using .oga.

I'm the main developer of libsndfile I libsndfile has been suggesting
the use of .oga for at least 6 months.

Post by Cory K.
So this is all very vexing to me as to which way to go.

Quite honestly, I really don't think it matters very much. No sensible
application would use the file extension to guess the data format in
the Ogg container.

Erik

[Cory K.]

Post by Erik de Castro Lopo
Quite honestly, I really don't think it matters very much. No sensible
application would use the file extension to guess the data format in
the Ogg container.

Sure, but unfortunately that's not how alot of HW/SW works. I was really
shocked RockBox hasn't kept up with this change. :(

-Cory \m/

[david]

The only portable audio player I own only recognizes MP3s and WMA files.
Everything else is out of the question.

[Cory K.]

Post by Folderol
I would say stick with ogg until you see a *very* significant number of
oga's in the wild. I've seen none so far, and there is no point in
using an extension that nothing recognises. I would guess that players
will eventuall be produced that will accept both extensions.

Well that's the pickle though isn't it? How to you get them out there
unless apps use the extension by default?

I haven't seen any linux/BSD choke on my .oga files so far. Many look to
handle the MIME just fine. Apps on windows did pretty well also though
Winamp was sadly unable to play it. :( No real point in testing iTunes. :P

Post by Folderol
Maybe have a switch in your app so it can be changed later.

ATM, I have it set to .oga be default with a switch for legacy to use .ogg

So... Still a real pickle. What makes it worse is that even though Xiph
instituted these new extensions they have no intention on pushing them.
Without a push, how can there be adoption?

-Cory \m/

[Frank Barknecht]

Hallo,

Post by Cory K.

Post by Folderol
Maybe have a switch in your app so it can be changed later.

ATM, I have it set to .oga be default with a switch for legacy to use .ogg

Do you also support free form suffixes?

Ciao

[Chris Cannam]

Post by Cory K.
Anyway, I'm unsure what extension to use for Vorbis audio because .ogg
is legacy and .oga should be used now. [...]
http://wiki.xiph.org/index.php/MIME_Types_and_File_Extensions

Hang on -- that page recommends using .ogg for Vorbis. Doesn't it?

It says "Vorbis and Speex may use .oga, but it is not the preferred
method of distributing these files because of backwards-compatibility
issues". I'm probably missing something, but I don't see anything in
the references you gave to suggest you should prefer to use .oga when
writing Ogg Vorbis files...?

(For what it's worth, I'd never heard of .oga myself until now. Just
tried out Sonic Visualiser loading .oga-suffixed ogg/vorbis files and
it works fine, but they won't show up in the file selector because it
only has .ogg in the filter pattern.)


Chris

[Emanuel Rumpf]

I'll stick to .ogg. unless the crowd convinces me ;-)

For non-vorbis encoded files, I found it
usefull to add a second extension:

nicehomevideo.theora.ogg
would give you the hint, that it's a theora video inside an ogg container

[Eric Dantan Rzewnicki]

Post by Emanuel Rumpf
I'll stick to .ogg. unless the crowd convinces me ;-)
For non-vorbis encoded files, I found it
nicehomevideo.theora.ogg
would give you the hint, that it's a theora video inside an ogg container

This is the approach I personally prefer. But, then, I've never cared
about anyone other than humans getting information out of the file name.

-Eric Rz.

[Christopher Stamper]

Many PMP devices actually use the file extension to determine file type
instead of MIME or something similar.

For example, my Palm OS PDA will not recognize a .oga file unless I rename
it. It's simply not recognized as media, since oga is kinda new and unused
(.ogg is supported).

I'd like to have an option. Like 'Legacy' type thing, default .oga

I personally never use oga, and don't plan to because nobody knows what it
is.