Seven Internet companies today announced formation of the Alliance for Open Media - an open-source project that will develop next-generation media formats, codecs and technologies in the public interest. The Alliance's founding members are Amazon, Cisco, Google, Intel, Microsoft, Mozilla and Netflix. The new Alliance is committing its collective technology and expertise to meet growing Internet demand for top-quality video, audio, imagery and streaming across devices of all kinds and for users worldwide.

The Alliance's initial focus is to deliver a next-generation video format that is:

Interoperable and open;
Optimized for the web;
Scalable to any modern device at any bandwidth;
Designed with a low computational footprint and optimized for hardware;
Capable of consistent, highest-quality, real-time video delivery; and
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, along with binding specifications for media format, content encryption and adaptive streaming, thereby creating opportunities for next-generation media experiences.

The alliance is going up against MPEG (Moving Picture Experts Group) whose members -- from the telecommunications, consumer electronics and cable TV industries -- have produced many widely used compression standards. It has developed HEVC or H.265, a single standard that would handle almost all video. But patent licensing fees and uncertainty have hampered HEVC/H.265.