VideoPress is a strong supporter of free software, including video formats and codecs. All videos uploaded to VideoPress are available for download in Ogg video format with Theora video and Vorbis audio. If you blog on WordPress.com you now have the ability to restrict VideoPress embed to only free video formats unrestricted by known patent claims or intellectual property licensing hurdles.

Publishers concerned about the freedom restrictions of the default VideoPress player’s use of Adobe Flash, MP4, H.264/AVC High profile video, and AAC–LC can override the default behavior through their WordPress.com blog’s Media Settings page (yourblog.wordpress.com/wp-admin/options-media.php). Your free software formats choice applies to all VideoPress videos embedded on your blog, including videos from other VideoPress publishers. Videos included in your posts and pages will be output using HTML5 <video> markup for playback using default video controls in supporting web browsers such as Mozilla Firefox 3.5+, Google Chrome 3.0+, and Opera 10.5+.

The free formats setting may be expanded in the future to include additional formats free of known patent claims. The newly supported WebM file container with VP8 video and Vorbis audio is an early example of what could become a video format without known intellectual property claims prohibiting open distribution. We plan to add support for freedom preference for self-hosted WordPress blogs through our VideoPress plugin once we have tested this new feature with the millions of active blogs on WordPress.com.

We hope you enjoy your new choice in publishing video without sacrificing freedoms.