Google and Microsoft have joined hands with five other organisations to form an alliance, that will work towards developing the next generation of open-source media formats, codecs and technologies for the masses. The alliance comprises of Amazon, Cisco, Google, Intel Corporation, Microsoft, Mozilla and Netflix. It has been named as “Alliance for Open Media”.
The alliance will bring in its collective technology and expertise for finding new ways of coping up with increasing internet demands, like better video, audio and imaging quality. It will also try to improve streaming across various connected devices. The main focus of this alliance, though, will be to design and create a next generation open source video format, which could fulfill the following six parameters:
“Customer expectations for media delivery continue to grow, and fulfilling their expectations requires the concerted energy of the entire ecosystem,” said Gabe Frost, the Alliance for Open Media’s Executive Director. “The Alliance for Open Media brings together the leading experts in the entire video stack to work together in pursuit of open, royalty-free and interoperable solutions for the next generation of video delivery.”
According to its website, “This initial project will create a new, open royalty-free video codec specification based on the contributions of members, along with binding specifications for media format, content encryption and adaptive streaming, thereby creating opportunities for next-generation media experiences.”