Ogg Video

The Ogg container format is a multimedia format that supports multiple video, audio, text, and metadata streams. You can compress each stream in the container with different compression methods. For example, the video stream in an Ogg container may be compressed with Theora compression, and the audio stream may be compressed with Vorbis compression.

The Xiph.Org Foundation, which develops Ogg, recommends that Ogg container files that only store audio data use the .ogg or .oga file extension ( .OGG and .OGA files). Also, Xiph.Org recommends that Ogg container files that store video data use the .ogv extension (OGV files).

Common usage for OGV files

Web developers and content creators often utilize OGV files for sharing video content using the HTML5 <video> tag. However, they are generally referenced in the HTML source code with the .ogg extension, even though the files contain video content.

NOTE: Audio files that use the Ogg container are called Ogg Vorbis files, where "Vorbis" refers to the specific compression algorithm used for the audio data. The term "Vorbis" does not apply to Ogg video content.

You can open OGV files with several media players, including Microsoft Media Player (Windows), VideoLAN VLC media player (multiplatform), Eltima Elmedia Player (macOS), and MPlayer (macOS).

NOTE: Xiph.Org, the developers of the OGV format, provide a DirectShow codec pack that enables software developers to include support for OGV files in both open-source and commercial applications.

Several applications, including VideoLAN VLC media player and Miro Video Converter, can convert OGV files to other formats.

For example, VLC media player can convert OGV files to the following video formats:

You can also convert the audio saved in OGV files to the following formats with VLC media player:

Programs that open OGV files

Updated: May 26, 2022