Tech giants partner to build open media formats

Amazon, Cisco, Google, Intel, Microsoft, Mozilla, and Netflix banded together today to create the Alliance for Open Media. The open-source project will consolidate several codec development projects into a single working group that hopes to deliver a next-generation video codec by late 2016 or early 2017.

Each of the seven companies will contribute technology (royalty free) and expertise to support high-quality video, audio, imagery, and streaming across all types of devices. For example, Cisco will share technology relating to its new video codec Thor, Google will share details surrounding VP10, and Mozilla will offer up Daala. The Alliance’s press release outlines the initial focus of delivering a next-generation video format