Editing Vorbis (section)

==Licensing==
Knowledge of Vorbis' specifications is in the [[public domain]].<ref name="Vorbis.com FAQ">{{cite web | publisher = Xiph.Org Foundation | title = Vorbis.com FAQ | url = http://www.vorbis.com/faq/#flic | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20051001065649/http://vorbis.com/faq/#flic | url-status = dead | archive-date = 2005-10-01 | access-date = 2009-08-29 }}</ref> Concerning the specification itself, the Xiph.Org Foundation reserves the right to set the Vorbis specification and certify compliance. Its libraries are released under the revised 3-clause [[BSD License|BSD license]] and its tools are released under the [[GNU General Public License]]. The libraries were originally released under the [[GNU Lesser General Public Licence]], but a BSD license was later chosen with the endorsement of [[Richard Stallman]].<ref>{{cite web | url=http://lists.xiph.org/pipermail/icecast-dev/2001-February/000005.html | title=&#91;icecast-dev&#93; Xiph.org announces Vorbis Beta 4 and the Xiph.org Foundation | access-date=2006-11-13 | author=Jack Moffitt| author-link=Jack Moffitt (computer scientist) |date=2001-02-26}}</ref> The [[Xiph.Org Foundation]] states that Vorbis, like all its developments, is completely free from the licensing or [[Software patent|patent]] issues raised by [[Proprietary software|proprietary]] formats. Although the Xiph.Org Foundation states it has conducted a patent search that supports its claims, outside parties (notably engineers working on rival formats) have expressed doubt that Vorbis is free of patented technology.<ref>{{cite web | url=http://www.hydrogenaud.io/forums/index.php?showtopic=13531 | title=Vorbis development, status & patent issues | year=2003 | access-date=2006-11-13 | archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20150625020659/http://www.hydrogenaud.io/forums/index.php?showtopic=13531 | archive-date=2015-06-25 | url-status=dead}}</ref>{{Original research inline|date=August 2016}}

The Xiph.Org Foundation has not released an official statement on the patent status of Vorbis, pointing out that such a statement is technically impossible due to the number and scope of patents in existence and the questionable validity of many of them. Such issues can only be resolved by a court of law.

Vorbis is supported by several large [[digital audio player]] manufacturers such as [[Samsung]], [[SanDisk]], [[Rio (digital audio players)|Rio]], [[Neuros Technology]], [[Cowon]], and [[iriver]].