Roxio licenses DivX

Lasse Penttinen
9 Dec 2003 10:00

As Ahead Software is putting a lot of effor in their MPEG-4 video compression, it’s largets competitor Roxio strikes back by licensng DivX technology. The press release however does not specify if Roxio will include DivX to their OEM products (bundled with drives) or just the retail version.
This is a clear strategic maneuver by Roxio and it seems that they will not sit on their butts while competition in expanding to the DVD and video storing market. On the other hand, this yet again increases the user base of DivX video, which is becoming the de facto standard of low bitrate video compression.

SANTA CLARA, Calif., Dec. 9 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Roxio, Inc. (Nasdaq: ROXI - News), The Digital Media Company® and provider of the best selling digital media software in the world, announced today a licensing agreement with DivXNetworks, Inc. Under terms of the agreement, DivX® video compression technology will be integrated into Roxio's line of best-selling burning and digital video software. Roxio products that will include DivX technology include follow on releases of Easy CD & DVD Creator(TM): The Digital Media Suite® and VideoWave®.

The addition of DivX technology will enable Roxio customers to more easily acquire, edit and create video content using one of the most popular video formats available. DivX video content can then be burned onto CD and played back on DivX Certified(TM) set top players or shared over the Internet.
DivX technology efficiently compresses video content into a more manageable file size without sacrificing quality, allowing it to be more easily stored or shared. For example, an MPEG-2 video file, the format used for DVD-Video, can be compressed down to one tenth of its original size. VHS-quality video can be reduced to nearly one hundredth of its original size without losing frames, size or resolution. Using DivX video compression, Roxio applications will enable users to reduce digital video down to sizes small enough to be sent over the Internet, while maintaining excellent visual quality.

"Roxio strives to provide our customers with the broadest range of tools with which to be creative with their digital media," said Vito Salvaggio, Roxio Vice President of Product Management. "DivX has earned a great reputation among video enthusiasts. By integrating DivX technology in our products, we're making it easy for Roxio's customers to create video projects in a popular, highly compressed format for viewing on their PCs, burning to CD or sharing via the Internet without compromising picture size or quality."

"With over 100 million users worldwide, our technology is quickly becoming the standard in video compression," said Kevin Hell, DivXNetworks' Chief Marketing Officer and Managing Director. "Roxio's leadership position in CD and DVD creation for the PC and the Macintosh gives us a great opportunity to reach a broad audience of digital media consumers with an easy-to-use multimedia application that takes advantage of the great performance and visual quality of DivX video."