General

Windows 95/98/NT/2000

Unix / Linux

Macintosh

BeOS

General

Ogg Vorbis is a new audio compression format. It is roughly comparable to other formats used to store and play digital music, such as MP3, VQF, AAC, and other digital audio formats. It is different from these other formats because it is completely free, open, and unpatented. More information about Ogg Vorbis can be found at Vorbis.com.

There are lots of reasons that content providers switch to .ogg format. Many files will compress to a smaller size with higher quality using Ogg Vorbis instead of MP3. MP3 also carries patent licensing restrictions which do not apply to Ogg Vorbis. Ogg Vorbis is an artist-friendly, technologically advanced audio codec. Releasing content in Ogg Vorbis is the best way to show support for the work done by the project.

Check with the maker of your software to make sure that it doesn't support Ogg Vorbis, because we may have missed many options in our FAQ. If your favorite player still does not support Ogg Vorbis, ask for it! The software community has been very supportive thus far, and user demand is what will drive adoption of Ogg Vorbis. Make sure that software companies know that you want Ogg Vorbis. In the meantime, we've provided guides to several popular applications that you can use instead.

Standalone encoders for several operating systems are available at Vorbis.com. Also, several jukebox and audio applications already have built-in support for Vorbis ripping and encoding. The most up-to-date list can be found here.

Windows 95/98/NT/2000

Currently, supported players include Winamp, Sonique, FreeAmp, Ultraplayer, eTantrum, and others.

First, download the plugin here. Unzip the included .dll file (in_vorbis.dll) to your C:\Program Files\Winamp\Plugins folder. After restarting Winamp, you should be able to play Ogg Vorbis files. A more complete explanation with screenshots can be found here.

Ogg Vorbis playback with Sonique no longer requires a plugin. All versions of Sonique starting with 1.808 suport Ogg Vorbis. You can download the latest version of Sonique here.

The latest beta of FreeAmp supports Ogg Vorbis playback. The Windows installer can be downloaded here.

Unix / Linux

XMMS supports Ogg Vorbis playback through plugins, as does the latest version of FreeAmp for Linux. There are also several command line decoders.

First, download the plugin here. Gunzip and untar the included .so file (libvorbis.so) to your /usr/lib/xmms/Input (or /usr/local/lib/xmms/Input, depending on your system) folder. After restarting XMMS, you should be able to play Ogg Vorbis files.

Macintosh

Unsanity Echo for MacOS now supports Ogg Vorbis. You can download the software from their page. If you are would like to see Ogg Vorbis support in more players for MacOS, please contact the makers of your favorite player software and let them know.

BeOS

A complete set of Vorbis tools, including a plugin for Cl-Amp, can be downloaded here.
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