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I can understand the rationale for using ogg files instead of mp3s or another format, but the net effect is that most people just never hear the audio content. If you're going to require people to use your open-source alternative, I think it only makes sense to embed the player into the site. Is that possible? If not, you're stuck with sacrificing usability in order to make a philosophical point and defend against some ridiculous future scenario where wikipedia gets sued for using mp3s or wmvs on their site. I notice that most pictures are JPEGs - aren't you concerned about the fact that people have asserted that they own a patent on that filetype.

Stuff like this is far and away the worst part of Wikipedia. You're all such pedants about nonsense to the point where you're crippling the site. 128.12.186.192 09:12, 30 April 2007 (UTC)

(separate user's comment) I quite agree. Having tried to get audio and video files to play on several Windows machines without success I can only conclude that 'open format' is a sick joke which really means 'just about useable by ubergeeks who hand-code their own Unix drivers'. Face it, folks: these are niche formats that simply aren't supported by popular computers and thus frustrate would-be users.

Let's stick to industry-standard file formats - even if they are technically proprietary. Long live MP3! —Preceding unsigned comment added by 82.13.146.197 ( talk • contribs)

Yes, using OGG on Wikipedia is a bloody stupid idea. Like the above poster, I have tried, tried, tried to install Ogg codecs on a variety of Windows machines, most recently following the instructions TO THE LETTER for the Windows Media oggcodecs 0.71.0946 on a newish, pretty clean install of Vista Home Premium. And guess what? it doesn't work. Nada, nil, zip. Yet another platform where Wikipedia fails miserably. Pretty much everything else in Wikipedia is joy - why, why, why stick to an audio format that JUST PLAIN DOESN'T WORK IN THE REAL WORLD? We had 'burn the GIFs' - NOW IS THE TIME TO BURN THE OGGs.

• Thank you, someone needed to say it - your goal is either to spread knowledge or spread ideology. This is the same damn issue as with IPA - don't FORCE the end users to change their ways just because of some novel idea. Wikipedia is here to EDUCATE the public, not to evangelize some OSS ideals. Please, start thinking about the goals of this site and stop pushing people around. I've got a BS in ComSci and I still haven't heard a single .ogg file play off of an article. * —Preceding unsigned comment added by 98.224.228.66 ( talk) 08:25, 9 February 2008 (UTC)

Ogg Vorbis, works just fine, just follow the instructions and you will have it working in a minute. I managed and I'm not Einstein. Jackaranga 07:43, 8 June 2007 (UTC)

Yeah, so long as you're on your own computer, it's quite doable. What about people on public or shared computers upon which they have no business installing software of any kind? Even those computers are generally equipped to play .mp3 files. I second the OP as well, this is a little bit silly. [+added:]Also, I know there's at least one open source mp3 format; it's the only one I use on my own computer. 71.61.64.113 20:53, 23 July 2007 (UTC)

Well I followed the instructions and it works sometimes, but quite often it just glitches up for me and I have to restart my internet browser 24.65.104.205 23:39, 12 November 2007 (UTC)

I agree with OP. Why go out of our way to reduce the usability of the site? Everyone can play MP3, it's counter-productive to waste time on silly formats that almost no computers can play on the default setup (or even a reasonable customized setup). 24.84.213.237 21:54, 10 June 2007 (UTC)

You can blame Windows Media Player for not supporting open formats. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 203.129.33.32 ( talk) 01:56, 15 October 2007 (UTC)

It still doesn't? Surely it's the only holdout left, by now! As for those who want idiot-friendly just grab a copy of Winamp. It (like most—if not all—third-party players) plays OggVorbis out of the box. Granted, this does require being allowed to install stuff. Alternately, complain to Micro,soft for not supporting a media format that's nearly a decade old, and par for the course in most every other OS family currently in development. [Please pardon my political digression; i realise that it, by itself, doesn't fix the problem. But people need to get noisy—especially when they're paying good money for stuff, and getting sold short.]
— überRegenbogen ( talk) 10:37, 28 December 2007 (UTC)

WMP isn't the only one that doesn't support ogg. RealPlayer and Quicktime don't use it either. Doshindude ( talk) 03:19, 19 February 2008 (UTC)

I agree as to the reasoning with the third party computer owners. At school or libraries, which are often ran by people who's only goal in life is the furtherance of Microsoft's stupid unworkable software, you're pretty much stuck with windows media player. I've never been able to play any sound at school or their libraries. yes it would b ewonderful if we could all play in happy land with software that works, but we're stuck with internet explorer and windows media (refuses to)play(er). Wikipedia should at minimum mirror the files in .mp3 player-compatible formats (like one of the open source 'MP3' formats).

On the other hand it is laudable that they are pushing people to abandon incredibly annoying windows media and other formats. Even better that folks may abandon windows media player (that refuses to play media) for something like vlc. I guess you gotta motivate people to change and hurting them does that. By extension it hurts the libraries when people complain, same with schools. So while the effort is laudable the practical effect, the hurting folks to get them to change, is unnecessary. MP3 will be off patent soon enough (2012 by all reasonable accounts I believe) even if you don't use a free 'MP3' encoder. People at schools and libraries are stuck with "microsoft is the entire world" software- and such refuses to play anything not in $Micro$oft$ format. At least add alternatives-- Δζ ( talk) 06:22, 2 November 2008 (UTC)

As it turns out, you can apply the same logic to Wikipedia, too. You can blame them for not using the most common and most widely-installed media formats, choosing instead another geek-tech shibboleth and replacing one set of putative licensing restrictions (i.e., patents) with another (the GPL). If you don't think the conditions imposed by the GPL are onerous, then why don't the Windows Media or Quicktime, the two most profligate commercial media libraries, support it? The proof of the pudding is in the eating.-- 96.245.223.207 ( talk) 06:43, 17 November 2008 (UTC)

I'm assuming we are talking about HTML 5 media? I haven't seen any direct download ogg files yet. Firefox 3.5 comes with ogg codec, and every other big browser supports HTML media. If you are using Internet Explorer, you already failed at using the internet. There is nothing silly about this. Using closed source formats is just asking for trouble, and causes too many problems as it is. Internet Explorer will be getting HTML 5 media support soon as well. If you don't have the latest version of Internet Explorer... well let's just say you wont have your banking account for much longer. I'm sure if OGG keeps being pushed as it currently is in HTML 5, Windows will add it as a built in codec. Using MP3 is both destructive and irresponsible to the future of computing. 99.224.115.100 ( talk)

Yes, I have a BS in computer science and I would like to add I have never heard audio on wikipedia (May, 4 2017) — Preceding unsigned comment added by 2602:306:384B:D140:DD9C:3B91:DA96:703C ( talk) 18:20, 4 May 2017 (UTC)

I can play all .ogg files on my Android Wikipedia Official App, but curiously when I try to play this particular file, Wikipedia freezes and crashes. Anyone knows why? I can play all other files perfectly, and I happen to be interested in this file.  • Sammy Majed  • Talk  • Creations • Wikipedia Arabic  • 12:56, 11 May 2017 (UTC)

How to upload photos on wikipedia?

Alinta Khan (
talk) 10:35, 23 June 2017 (UTC)

I play oggs just easily... a simple link is okay for me and will not spit nonsense like others about free formats. I like them and anyone can play ogg. Except on wikipedia. I just don't understand why WP claims to scan my system for ogg support which it cannot!

Why can't things be just easy? World Wide Web has hyperlinks.

81.0.198.173 ( talk) 12:06, 3 September 2008 (UTC)

Songs are played by wikipedia Amina iqbal046 0312 ( talk) 16:48, 12 July 2017 (UTC)

So true Hpinn7 ( talk) 00:25, 2 December 2017 (UTC)

Why does nothing work on my devise Hpinn7 ( talk) 00:25, 2 December 2017 (UTC)

I'm on Chrome on android L. I can play .ogg folks from other sites, but not wikipedia. Seriously folks, give up the friggin ogg-only mentality. Give us .mp3 mirrors at least! — Preceding unsigned comment added by Zacmea ( talk • contribs) 19:03, 10 February 2016 (UTC)

I am on a Mac, using Safari. Literally no media works. This is disgraceful. I am using the latest retina MacBook Pro, with the latest software updates, VLC is installed, etc.. It simply does NOT work! Seriously, this is absolutely pathetic. 173.60.255.37 ( talk) 21:26, 25 March 2014 (UTC)

I am on a Kubuntu Linux computer with VLC installed and all medibuntu codecs, reading Wikipedia from Firefox 2.0.0.11. I would expect that Wikipedia would simply detect my system and open VLC when I try to play the media file. Instead, a message pops up saying, "Sorry, your system does not appear to have any supported player software. Please download a player." Shouldn't Wikipedia just let me download the file so I can manually play it in VLC? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 222.127.33.239 ( talk) 02:19, 27 December 2007 (UTC)

2013, years go by and still can't find working directions to load OGG. Banging around another hour plus, obscure sights uploading stuff that disappears to who knows where. Uhg. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 173.225.148.173 ( talk) 16:16, 13 May 2013 (UTC)

Don't worry I can't even play videos. Hpinn7 ( talk) 00:27, 2 December 2017 (UTC)

I hope you do realize that Wikipedia helps distribute OGG codecs and players to a lot of people. Maybe a call for media files in order to have a "Sound file of the day" or "Video of the day" feature would help spread OGG even further. After all, isn't this one of the points Jimmy Wales talked about in Frankfurt this week?! -- Hullbr3ach 19:44, 7 August 2005 (UTC)

Indeed, and this is one of the main reasons I contribute sound files. The Uninvited Co., Inc. 21:10, 7 August 2005 (UTC)

I don't see why something that democratizes information the way Wikipedia does should be used as a platform for Jimmy Wales's nerdpolitik advancement; there are plenty of other commendable alternatives to OGG. 71.61.64.113 20:56, 23 July 2007 (UTC)

I agree, spreading OGG is ideological nonsense. Use a format that people can actually play and stop trying to shove open-source politics down people's throat. 24.16.88.14 ( talk) 16:41, 2 January 2009 (UTC)

Stop trying to force proprietary codecs down my throat just because you conviniently paid $600 for a copy of Windows that ships with _your_ codec. Just take one minute and download an open codec... What do you suggest? We only can use Microsoft codecs, or we can only use Apple codecs? Either way nobody is going to agree on one thing unless it's open and standardized. 99.224.115.100 ( talk)

And Ogg is about to get a whole lot better with Google's release of VP8. Stephen B Streater ( talk) 06:51, 8 July 2010 (UTC)

Just because this broken format is open, you decide to use it nd suddenly try forcing all these ideas upon us that we should switch to tat and its a lot better because its open, whereas most of the worlds pcs run windows and support an ESTABLISHED and RELIABLE format MP3. You decide to create your own UNKNOWN format, make it open - oh wait! its open! youve gotta use it cos its open! No. Proprietary formats are an established standard used by 95% of world pcs. Just because you and your band of hippy hackers want to use a vague open format that nobody has heard of shouldn't mean that everyone should use it. People are COMFORTABLE using MP3 and MP4. Stop all this open delusion and get a life. 90.199.213.104 ( talk) 09:40, 24 December 2010 (UTC)

Although I do not agree with all of the infighting here, I do agree with the concept that Every Media File posting should have several file extension variations. Most of the time, I am using iOS, much like a good majority of mobile users who look to Wikipedia as a Trusted Source. So, for instance, if I am on the Wikipedia page for Arpeggio, interested in Learning what a Broken Cord sounds like, my options are, 1) Tell myself that Learning isn’t important, and go about my day, 2) Switch over to my PC, which just isn’t practical, or 3) Leave Wikipedia altogether, in order to find a playable file extension for iOS, and who knows when I will return. As anybody in Digital Marketing would explain, the main goal is to keep users on your website at all costs.

I would simply suggest that in order to quash the criticisms present in this Talk section of the aforementioned Article, but to also clarify the negative perception that an open-source, online encyclopedia, seems to favor a one file media format. Not only does this reflect negatively on Wikipedia, as the Moderators and Administrators could require a playable media source for Every Post which includes a Media File, but also on the Journalists who post only OGG files, reflecting a sense of indignation for All of Wikipedia’s Other Users. It offers the distinct perception that the authors are either Too Lazy to take the time to include other playable media sources, or that someone, somewhere, has a vested interest in the encoding scheme created by the Vorbis Developers. Perhaps earning royalties for every Download of their Software, or play of an OGG file extension.

As this scenario could easily be the case, I wonder why Wikipedia wouldn’t change the policy towards posting Media Files, in order to ensure that Every User has their own Choice, which would ensure Wikipedia is complying with proper due diligence. All it would take would be to have mandatory columns for uploading Media Files, as mentioned by another critic of this lack of better judgement, to include files that support iOS, Windows and MacOS.

I hope that others agree, and that this will make the Administrators think about the potential culpability, if somebody is profiting from posting to a non-profit corporation, with 501c3 status.

Mark Halsey 21:33, 8 December 2017 (UTC)  — Preceding 
unsigned comment added by 
Markhalsey (
talk • 
contribs)  

The good news is that MP3 patents are now expired, so MP3 is now available for download and will be available for upload soon. - Yuhong ( talk) 06:45, 12 January 2018 (UTC)

How to link a video with subtitle on for a particular language subtitle. ? This is very much required to link other language video so that the users who are not aware of availability of subtitles will also be benefitted -- Balaji ^{(Let's talk)} 15:01, 7 December 2018 (UTC)

@ User:Balajijagadesh: You are looking for the uselang parameter. For example, "|uselang=ta" would load the subtitles for tamil automatically.-- Snaevar ( talk) 23:36, 25 January 2019 (UTC)

There seems to be a recent bug with the subtitles. In the past they could be formatted to include boldface, italics, size increases, etc., but now it no longer works. – Illegitimate Barrister ( talk • contribs), 18:38, 17 May 2019 (UTC)

When JavaScript is disabled / blocked. The player appears and shows play button. But it doesn't react. I think it is fixable. Example of the page where I noticed this : /info/en/?search=Oxyg%C3%A8ne (doesn't work) , but on /info/en/?search=File:Jean_Michel_Jarre_Oxygene_iv.ogg it does work! Opening file ( https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/c/c3/Jean_Michel_Jarre_Oxygene_iv.ogg ) directly in Firefox also works even with JS disabled. The problem is I had this issue initially. Now I enabled JS it plays. I disabled JS back. And well, it still plays. So weird. 81.6.34.246 ( talk) 11:38, 1 November 2019 (UTC)