Re(2): [vorbis-dev] Mime Type and Ogg (More)

[Taral]

On 15 Oct, Maciej Stachowiak wrote:

> * To make recognization of the mime type easiest for file manager and
>   shell applications, have a distinct sniffable magic number for each
>   distinct mime type. Otherwise, algorithmic detection will be
>   necessary, as for MP3. Having many file formats with no sniffable
>   magic number slows down the whole user environment. Nautilus
>   includes a highly optimized mime sniffer that works really fast, but
>   if we have to require a lot of special cases, it will slow down a
>   lot in the network case and on huge datasets. This is an opportunity
>   to do even better than mpeg, where there is no suitable magic number
>   detection. Really, there is no excuse for file formats designed in
>   this day and age to not have suitable magic numbers.

I disagree. Why not have mime type application/x-ogg launch a "SuperOgg"
program which passes on the request to the appropriate player?

> * To make recognition even easier and more correct in all cases, have
>   a distinct extension per type. I bet this will be the more
>   controversial point, but consider the fact that users have been very
>   happy with the distinction between .mp3 and .mpg/.mpeg files - it
>   allows users to organize their data in a way that semantically makes
>   sense to them, rather than the way that makes the most sense to the
>   program.

Wholeheartedly agreed. Even if the format is fundamentally the same, the
difference between video+audio and audio only is substantial for users.
And it's the users we care about, right?


-- 
Taral <taral at taral.net>
Please use PGP/GPG to send me mail.
"Never ascribe to malice what can as easily be put down to stupidity."



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