Purpose
One of the purposes of multimedia container formats is to allow multiple codecs to be muxed into a single file or stream. For example, to combine audio, video, and subtitles into a single file.
The viewpoint held by Christopher Montgomery, creator of the Ogg format, is that the units of muxed codec data should be a separate abstraction layer from the units of data used by the codec in order to limit the amount of buffering necessary when decoding the contained data. In his opinion, which is supported by other developers working with the Xiph.org Foundation, this gives Ogg a technical advantage over alternative bitstream formats such as AVI, QuickTime, and MPEG.
Each Ogg page also provides the time offset of the contained data which allows efficient seeking which works with streaming and time accurate. In contrast, many other formats seek to byte positions in the stream or rely on a table of contents for seeking information.
Read more about this topic: Ogg Page
Famous quotes containing the word purpose:
“Natural selection, the blind, unconscious, automatic process which Darwin discovered, and which we now know is the explanation for the existence and apparently purposeful form of all life, has no purpose in mind. It has no mind and no mind’s eye. It does not plan for the future. It has no vision, no foresight, no sight at all. If it can be said to play the role of the watchmaker in nature, it is the blind watchmaker.”
—Richard Dawkins (b. 1941)
“Of what significance the light of day, if it is not the reflection of an inward dawn?—to what purpose is the veil of night withdrawn, if the morning reveals nothing to the soul? It is merely garish and glaring.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)
“During the cattle drives, Texas cowboy music came into national significance. Its practical purpose is well known—it was used primarily to keep the herds quiet at night, for often a ballad sung loudly and continuously enough might prevent a stampede. However, the cowboy also sang because he liked to sing.... In this music of the range and trail is “the grayness of the prairies, the mournful minor note of a Texas norther, and a rhythm that fits the gait of the cowboy’s pony.””
—Administration in the State of Texa, U.S. public relief program (1935-1943)