button on a page symbolizes support for the ogg format.
It is remarcable how patent restriction can restrain the use of certain files. I hesitate to put audio and video content on these pages because the popular mp3/mp4 are restricted by patents in some countries and cannot be produced with open source tools on a GNU/Linux platform.
There is a nice open source solution for audio/video content: ogg. But how are going Windows users to hear and see ogg files?
First, one must download the codecs. Download the codecs of the illiminable project. The installation process is very simple. Double click on the exe file. Choose the language. Agree to the license. Use the default installation path. Then open the Media Player. Go to the “Tools” menu and then to “Options”. Click on “File Types”. Select ogv, axv, flac, oga, axa, spx.
The codecs should work on both older Win98 and XP.
Read more about ogg under Windows on the page of the Xiph.org Foundation.
Ogg is not a problem in the case of GNU/Linux.
Fedora 7, for example, has in-built support for ogg. I assume that other distributions too support ogg very well.
The session recorder recordMyDesktop creates video files in ogg format.
With Audacity you are able to record and edit audio files in ogg format.
According to the Free Software Foundation (FSF) “the patent- and license-free standard Ogg Vorbis is an ethically, legally and technically superior audio alternative to the proprietary MP3 format” (see the FSF's Play Ogg web page).
This button on a page symbolizes support for the ogg format.
Why would, however, end-users care for ogg rather than mp3? The argument advanced by the FSF is that patents (such as those associated with mp3) “create a culture where creative and skilled individuals cannot develop multimedia software without fear of being legally attacked”.
In conclusion, for multimedia under GNU/Linux it is a far better solution to use ogg or a similar format. The same conclusion applies to the web pages running under a GNU/Linux system.