OGV files: Theora video, and where you met it
What OGV contains, why Wikipedia used it, and why players stopped supporting it. Convert OGV in your browser, no upload.
At a glance
- Type
- Video
- Container format
- Yes
- Extensions
- .ogv
- MIME type
- video/ogg
- Common codecs
- theora, vorbis
OGV is Ogg video, almost always carrying Theora for the picture and Vorbis for the sound. Both came from the Xiph.Org Foundation as patent-free alternatives at a time when video codec licensing was a serious obstacle, and for years OGV was the only video format Wikipedia and Wikimedia Commons would host. That is where most OGV files in circulation came from: reference material, archive footage, educational clips.
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Theora lost to H.264 and then to VP8 and VP9, and support has been receding from players ever since. It is also a weak codec by current standards — roughly comparable to MPEG-4 Part 2, well behind H.264 — so the files are larger than they would be in a modern format at the same quality.
Converting to MP4 re-encodes to H.264 and AAC, which puts the content in a format every device decodes in hardware. Do not expect it to look better: re-encoding cannot add detail, though the MP4 may well be smaller for the same appearance since H.264 is the more efficient of the two.
Convert OGV to other formats
FAQ
What is an OGV file?
Ogg video — Theora video with Vorbis audio, from the Xiph.Org project. It was the patent-free choice of the late 2000s and the only format Wikimedia would host for years.
Why will my player not open it?
Theora never gained wide hardware support, and software support has been receding as H.264 and VP9 took over. The file is fine; players moved on.
Will the MP4 look better?
No better than the source — re-encoding cannot add detail. It may well be smaller for the same appearance, since H.264 is more efficient than Theora.
Is quality lost?
A little, as with any re-encode between lossy codecs. At the default preset it is not noticeable on the archive and educational material OGV usually holds.
Can I extract just the audio?
Yes. The audio inside is Vorbis, which is decoded and re-encoded to MP3 — a second lossy pass, so use 192 kbps or above.
Is there a size limit?
About 667 MB for video conversions, which OGV files rarely approach.