Spread Open Media/en/Why Open Media Matters

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Compare it to the popular formats

• Free formats have the same or better quality compared with proprietary ones like MP3 or Flash.
• No matter your needs, be it music, speech, video, playlists, or slideshows: open media will cover them.
• You can save your bandwidth in case you author podcasts or stream content, and those will have better quality than when using proprietary formats.

Choose it over the popular formats

• You can use, modify, and distribute free software for open formats without needing permission from (or paying royalties to) software patent holders.
• The license on open formats cannot be changed or revoked. No matter what happens, you will still be in control of your own content.
• Similarly, the art and music you purchase, own, or download can be stored in open formats without any worries over future intellectual property restrictions.
• Whenever you buy music or videos online with open media, you will know they won't be crippled with DRM. You can share these files with friends or over peer-to-peer networks.
• You can share media files across different operating systems and architectures, and it will work on those computers because the specification of the formats are open.

Tell your friends

• If you help spread the word, then you will see more support and compatibility in portable players, which will benefit everyone.
• The more people that use open media, the better formats you can expect in the future, so if you use open media you are making the world a little bit of a better place.