Relative merits of encoding video with H.264 vs Ogg

Question

What are the technical merits of using H.264 vs. Ogg for encoding video?

Feel free, also, to chime in on business/user advantages (e.g., penetration) -- assuming the responses remain on topic.

Thanks!

Answer 1

The two cannot be compared because they are two different things. H.264 is a video encoding format while OGG is a container format. How video files work is that you have the codec that actually encodes and stores the video, and then there is the container that the video is stored in. So you can actually have an H.264 encoded video stored in an OGG container.

What you are probably thinking of is Theora, which is an encoding format like H.264. It is developed by the same organization that made OGG. For technical merits, I'd have to say H.264 is the way to go. It is part of the MPEG-4 standard and is a really good compression algorithm. The main advantage of Theora is that it is free (as in free speech), and goes not come with any licensing fees, etc.