Ogg Vorbis is a patent and royalty-free audio compression format similar to mp3. You may think that mp3 is an open format, but it isn’t; strictly speaking, you must pay royalties to the MPEG consortium if you want encode music using mp3. Worse, the RIAA are determined to take control of the distribution of mp3, which is bad news for everyone. So, it is welcome news to hear that the BBC are currently testing the Ogg Vorbis codec for their live streaming services. Support from big organisations such as the BBC will help to put the .ogg format into public conciousness, which can only be a good thing.