The Open Video Alliance is a coalition of organizations and individuals committed to the idea that the power of moving image should belong to everyone.

Why Open Video: runtime 13:00
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What’s Open Video?

Open video is the movement to promote free expression and innovation in online video. We’re for sharing, open source, and open standards—OVA believes that the basic technologies for transmission of video must be open source and available to use on a royalty-free basis.

The Open Video Alliance

OVA provides a framework to help incubate new projects and campaigns to advance the open video movement. Core OVA members like Mozilla, PCF, and Kaltura are actively building open video with free and open source software—stuff like Firefox, Miro, and the Kaltura platform. Other OVA members lead research and advocacy efforts to promote an open video ecosystem.

Get Involved

There’s lots of ways to get involved—join our mailing list and check out the open video wiki . It’s a public resource. If you have a newsworthy tip for our blog, drop us a line at tips@openvideoalliance.org.

Want to help open video in a big way ? Consider contributing your educational videos to Wikipedia. Learn more at videoonwikipedia.org.

If you have a project idea, or need support to execute your current project, let’s get in touch. We’re always on the lookout for new collaborators; we need your help pushing for openness at all levels.

Become a Member

The Open Video Alliance is a forum for coordination and strategic association. OVA members seek to promote open source; open licensing; public media; and the role of video in education. OVA is structured for maximum flexibility and shared capacity. Founded in 2009 by Mozilla, Kaltura, Participatory Culture Foundation, and Yale ISP, OVA is entering a period of expansion. Supporting members are invited to participate in the financial growth of OVA and the open video movement. This money helps fund co-managed projects, maintain OVA administration and strategic coordination, and joint projects like OVC. Becoming a supporting member is a signal that your organization is committed to building open video.

If your organization would like to join OVA, please be in touch.

Our Mission

Many have theorized that the age of YouTube (an age in which we’re surrounded by cameras in cellphones, laptops, and elsewhere) is the dawn of something new. For the first time, huge numbers of people are communicating through video. Video is almost like a new language, a new toolkit for self-expression. This has some pretty profound implications.

But while YouTube has enabled millions of people to broadcast themselves, it offers just a glimpse into the future of the online video medium.

The big idea behind the Open Video Alliance is that heading into this future, the tools for creating, manipulating, and sharing video must be available to everyone. And while having community-developed, open source versions of these tools is critical, it’s not the whole story. Open video requires that legal and business structures support the ability of huge numbers of individuals to use video in ways that go beyond just watching.

For some more perspectives, check out some of the issues we’re passionate about, or our principles for an open video ecosystem.