# How versatile are OGG files? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [June 7, 2010, 1:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-versatile-are-ogg-files/542264 "2010-06-07T13:28:52Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Busy\_Scissors](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/d78d45/32.png) [@Busy\_Scissors](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Busy_Scissors)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2010, 1:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-versatile-are-ogg-files/542264/1 "2010-06-07T13:28:52Z")
I have all of my music ripped as ogg files, for better or worse. I’ve had no problems getting a dedicated ‘mp3’ player for them over the years, but was just wanting to make a cd for my young son from the collection. If I just lay them all on there, that’s not likely to work in a bog standard CD player is it? How can this be done? I was also thinking about finally getting a decent phone, which I would probably use to play music here and there. Is it a simple matter to get an add on for phone software to handle ogg files? I have a pile of CDs waiting to be ripped, and I guess I’m basically wondering if it’s best to persevere with the ogg format or try something else. Not a GQ as such, but what is the prevailing opinion of the future of this format? ---
**Author:** ![Nametag](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/nametag/32/406_2.png) [@Nametag](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nametag)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2010, 4:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-versatile-are-ogg-files/542264/2 "2010-06-07T16:11:07Z")
If you want the CD to play in every CD player, there is only one format: CDA, AKA “Red Book.” While many CD players are capable of playing MP3s, and some can handle other “computer” files, creating a standard audio CD is the usual thing. OGG is a compressed format, while CDA is uncompressed, so you won’t be able to get as much music onto a CD – 70 minutes is it. OGG is not nearly as popular as MP3, and will probably never be reliably found on audio CD players, not even those that play MP3s. Free software is available for converting between all of the above formats, so you really need to decide what’s most important, and select the format accordingly. ---
**Author:** ![Ludovic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7ab992/32.png) [@Ludovic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ludovic)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2010, 4:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-versatile-are-ogg-files/542264/3 "2010-06-07T16:37:34Z")
This cd player no play my music! OGG Smash! ---
**Author:** ![Reply](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/reply/32/15952_2.png) [@Reply](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Reply)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2010, 7:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-versatile-are-ogg-files/542264/4 "2010-06-07T19:47:41Z")
What **Nametag** said. Just one thing to add: Why give your young son a bog standard CD player instead of a MP3 (well, ogg) player? As for the future of Vorbis (to be pedantic, Ogg is a container format, Vorbis is the audio codec – see last paragraph of [the “Why Ogg Vorbis” section here](http://grahammitchell.com/writings/vorbis_intro.html#why_ogg_vorbis)): It’s been around for a decade and has never gone mainstream; it will likely never be more than a niche technology for pseudoaudiophiles. With disk capacities far outpacing music releases, I doubt storage space is ever going to be an issue… as such, Vorbis loses its primary benefit (quality to file size ratio) to formats with better compatibility (i.e. MP3, AAC, and to some degree WMA) and manufacturers have little incentive to support it. The iPod pretty much dictates the state of digital audio players, and unless Apple one day decides to switch to Vorbis, it just ain’t happening. If you want to future-proof your CD collection, rip it to a lossless codec like [FLAC](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FLAC) instead. Vorbis is like MP3 in that the song is compressed and loses some quality in the process, and will continue to do so each time you transcode it to some other codec or bitrate. Many CD rippers will support FLAC, and with it, you’ll be able to transcode to whatever the codec-du-jour 10 years from now happens to be with no loss of quality. ---
**Author:** ![Busy\_Scissors](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/d78d45/32.png) [@Busy\_Scissors](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Busy_Scissors)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2010, 10:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-versatile-are-ogg-files/542264/5 "2010-06-07T22:26:19Z")
Thks for the replies - think I might call it a day with the ogg vorbis. My bairn is only turned 2, and we got him a ‘my first cd’ thing that looks like a toy, but does in fact play cds, to listen to nursery rhymes and the Irish folk music that he likes from the car. Hence the need to make a cd - not made one for years. He’ll probably be asking for an mp3 player in short order - before he’s got the knife and fork properly worked out. ---
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2010, 11:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-versatile-are-ogg-files/542264/6 "2010-06-07T23:46:33Z")
> [@Busy\_Scissors](#): > > Thks for the replies - think I might call it a day with the ogg vorbis. > > My bairn is only turned 2, and we got him a ‘my first cd’ thing that looks like a toy, but does in fact play cds, to listen to nursery rhymes and the Irish folk music that he likes from the car. Hence the need to make a cd - not made one for years. He’ll probably be asking for an mp3 player in short order - before he’s got the knife and fork properly worked out. How do you play your OGG files on your computer? If you [add OGG ability to Windows Media Player](http://www.free-codecs.com/download/RadLight_Ogg_Media_DirectShow_filter.htm), it will be able to burn regular audio CDs from OGG files. ---
**Author:** ![JoeH2O](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/9de053/32.png) [@JoeH2O](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JoeH2O)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2010, 11:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-versatile-are-ogg-files/542264/7 "2010-06-07T23:48:52Z")
Do you have access to iTunes? It will make an audio CD from a playlist of any music that it is able to play (so if you have the ogg vorbis codec for quicktime, it will be able to).