Flash video has transformed the Web, and is also a constant form of irritation when you're not setup for it. Now Theora aims to solve all those Flash licensing issues one and for all.

Last week marked a release that's been many years in the making -- version 1.0 of Theora, the free video codec from the Xiph.org project.

Like the better-known Vorbis audio codec, also from Xiph.org, Theora is free in every sense of the word: the software open-source and freely available, and the underlying technology is free of patents, which means that it can be used for any purpose with no royalties.

Theora has been in development since 2002, when On2 Technologies donated its VP3 codec to the Xiph.org project and disclaimed all rights to it, including the patents it held on the technology. At the time, the Xiph.org developers had done some work on their own video codec, called Tarkin, but with litle progress made on its design, the developers instead took the VP3 code and improved it to produce Theora.

The web needs freedom

Even though other video technologies are far more common today, I think it's important to have a free alternative. Flash video has grown in popularity substantially over the last few years due to the rise of Youtube and its followers, but it's a proprietary technology, and its availablity is limited.

Today's web extends far beyond the PC, and in an increasing number of cases -- games consoles, handheld computers, and smartphones like the iPhone -- the web browser itself is fully functional, but Flash support is either several versions out of date, or missing entirely. With a free video codec, like Theora, browser makers can easily add support, regardless of the underlying platform.

In fact, we're already starting to see that happen. HTML 5, currently in draft, implements dedicated tags for embedding audio and video, just as we embed images in HTML today. Image formats like PNG and JPEG are royalty-free, and if video and audio are to become as pervasive on the web as images are today, royalty-free codecs are the only way to go. The beta veresions of both Firefox and Opera already support the new tags, and the Theora and Vorbis codecs.

We're starting to see free content appear as well. Perhaps the largest example is the Wikimedia Commons, a repository of royalty-free media on a wide range of topics. Most of the content is in the form of images, but audio and video are becoming more popular, and the Wikimedia Foundation only allows content encoded using Theora and Vorbis.

With Firefox 3.1 beta, you can now watch that content without needing Flash or any other plugin.

Challenges ahead

Despite being supported by Opera and Firefox, Theora has a number of challenges ahead. The first lies in its performance -- both the encoding time and the video quality trail behind the common XviD/DivX-style MPEG-4 ASP codecs, let alone next-generation HD codecs like H.264 and VC-1. A lot of work has already been done in this area, though, with development versions of the Theora encoder producing much higher quality files, while remaining compatible with existing decoders.

The other challenge will be getting the other browser makers on board. Apple and Nokia have so far rejected Theora, partly due to its performance, and partly due to concerns that, while Theora claims to be patent-free, a patent troll somewhere may be sitting on a potential patent claim against the code, waiting for someone worth suing to embrace the technology. These problems don't affect Vorbis -- it's quality is comparable to other audio codecs, and it's already in widespread use.

Theora is definitely on its way, though. If the performance continues to improve, and it continues to spread through Firefox and Opera, it may just be a matter of time before it's universally supported.

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