Netflix, Amazon, Google partner on Open Media Alliance

Seven major internet companies, including Netflix, Amazon and Google, have partnered to form the Alliance for Open Media, with an aim of developing a next-generation online video format.

The open-source project – which also includes Cisco, Intel, Microsoft and Mozilla – will aim to develop “next-generation media formats, codecs and technologies”.

The Alliance’s initial focus will be to deliver an open and interoperable next-generation video format that is optimised for the web, scalable to any modern device on any bandwidth and is capable of consistent, high-quality, real-time delivery.

The alliance said this video format should have a low computational footprint and be flexible for both commercial and non-commercial content – including user-generated content.

“This initial project will create a new, open royalty-free video codec specification based on the contributions of members,” said the Alliance, which is a project of the Joint Development Foundation – an independent non-profit organisation.

“Google launched the WebM Project in 2010 in the belief that web video innovation was too slow and too closed, and that broad collaboration — in the open — would fix both problems. The Alliance for Open Media is a big leap forward for these core philosophies, and we’re gratified that our AOMedia partners share this vision,” said Matt Frost, head of strategy and partnerships,  Chrome Media at Google.

Jonathan Rosenberg, CTO of Cisco Collaboration Technology Group said: “We have been very vocal about our desire to deliver a royalty-free codec and we believe that joining the forces of the designers of the Daala, Thor and VPx codecs in AOMedia will multiply our collective efforts to deliver next-generation media codecs, formats and technologies.”