WebM and Opus explained
WebM is an open, royalty-free container built for the web, holding VP8/VP9 or AV1 video with Vorbis or Opus audio. It exists specifically so browsers can ship video support without patent licensing.
Opus is the current state of the art for lossy audio, and the codec behind most voice calls you make over the internet. It performs well across an unusually wide range, from 6 kbps speech to transparent music.
- Where WebM files come from
- Web video, and exports from browser-based recording tools.
- Where Opus is used
- Voice and video calls, modern podcast pipelines and WebRTC.