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I don't know why .ogg was not used, as according to Matroska.com this is where .ogg excels.

MKV is definitely superior to OGM though (Matroska is modest on this point int their faq).

look at the table here: http://www.alexander-noe.com/video/documentation/containers.pdf to see MKV vs OGM

4.3 in the linked PDF is probably why WebM was created (a pure subset of Matroska I believe).

I can't find any support, but I believe I read somewhere that OGM was week in seeking vs MKV (don't know how this compares to WebM).

As you have seen, those properties of OGM used by people who propagate
it are no real advandage, and at least one major drawback could be easily
xed to some extent without breaking compatibility to anything. But no one
seems to care to x it. It seems that people who could x don’t care enough
about OGM to really do it.
Finally, here the excerpt of a ’discussion’ between one of the most famous
OGM Zealot and other people:
Zealot: "Who would put ac3 or dts into ogm btw.? OGM is meant to be
a container for ogg vorbis sondtracks and video as well as subtitles."
Someone else: "So you acknowledge the fact that OGM is just a technology
demonstration to advertise Vorbis ? Not a general purpose container ?"
Zealot: "You know very well that OGM is a general purpose container..."
As you can see, not even OGM Zealots trying to defend OGM at all costs
(again, OGM, I don’t speak about OGG here!) can write reasonable sen-
tences not contradicting each other.

http://www.alexander-noe.com/video/documentation/containers.pdf

Of course it supports alternative audio tracks, all my files are encoded with two audio streams. Maybe you should read up on AVI myths.

1. Windows has two graphics/video backends, both have serious problems. The major container format is limited to 2GB, for example.

That hasn't been true since the introduction of the OpenDML AVI format, aka AVI 2.0, and the transition to DirectShow APIs (as opposed to the old "Video for Windows" subsystem.) This transition happened, for the most part, somewhere around the beginning of the decade.

MKV is superior container because it allows multiple streams within a single container, including multiple languages and subtitles.

You mean like AVI, MPEG, and MP4 all do? http://www.alexander-noe.com/video/amg/en_myths.html

AVI supports multiple streams *with severe limitations*. MPEG-TS/PS didn't carry anything other than MPEG formats, and was even worse than AVI for most circumstances. MP4 is the first industry container with proper support for more advanced features, though it has a heavy feature slant towards broadcaster design.

It *doesn't care* about the underlying codec's. For cripes sake, it supports DTS-HD out of the box without any special extensions.

It sure as hell does care. Read http://haali.net/mkv/codecs.pdf which goes into very specific detail on how to work with the "underlying codecs".

You notice that most of that is just saying "the codec initialization data is placed in the CodecPrivate element? The rest is details on this as prior to Matroska, codec developers would just place initialization information wherever.

In this respect, Matroska dramatically simplifies how codecs are used. My favorite is text subtitles, which are just timecoded Matroska data packets with the text to be displayed on the screen. The Matroska packet has the timecode the packet should be used at (when the subtitle appears on the screen), and the length of time the packet should be be used for (how long the subtitle stays on the screen for). Using another subtitle format, the exact same packet timecodes are used, with only the data for what displays on the screen changing.

It's taken a while for developers to get used to the idea that stream information be kept at the container level instead of being hidden inside of the codec, but once they saw it, they never wanted to go back. Many codecs prior to Matroska would store timing and packetization information in their own proprietary method/container. Now codec and software developers can completely ignore that part of development and just work on improving the data compression/decompression.

From the linked list, I see RealVideo, Theora/Vorbis, AC3, DTS, WAV, TTA Audio, WavPack, FLAC, SRT/Text, SSA/ASS, VOBSUB, and numerous MPEG containers. That's probably at least 15 different commonly used completely incompatible "containers". Now, a developer just needs to send data to and from a Matroska library and they can read/write any of those formats into the same file. Prior to Matroska there was ABSOLUTELY NO WAY to get some of these codecs to work with each other.

Just because you don't see the benefits doesn't mean they aren't there, and aren't a huge deal for developers and users.

The choice of MKV over MP4 is debatable

After a quick google/wiki check all i can find to differentiate the 2 is
1) slightly less overhead
2) mkv is already widely used by pirates (due to multiple soft subs )

But more importantly
MKV is an open standard free Container format, this is Slashdot if you even try to suggest mp4 is superior you will be shot. Generally MKV is widely supported in FOSS, but a major non-foss player supporting it is still great news especially as divx is so widely used.

MKV is superior container because it allows multiple streams within a single container, including multiple languages and subtitles.

AVI supports up to 256 streams, including video, audio, and subtitles. And variable bit rate audio streams aren't a "dirty hack"; they are just documented in MSDN as using video-style seeking. If your player can't demux them, it's a defect in your player, not the AVI specification. But unfortunately, even DirectShow's AVI demuxer has defects.

It *doesn't care* about the underlying codec's. For cripes sake, it supports DTS-HD out of the box without any special extensions.

Nor does AVI; your codec just has to have a four-character identifier ("fourcc").

Source

MKV is superior container because it allows multiple streams within a single container, including multiple languages and subtitles.

You mean like AVI, MPEG, and MP4 all do? http://www.alexander-noe.com/video/amg/en_myths.html

It *doesn't care* about the underlying codec's. For cripes sake, it supports DTS-HD out of the box without any special extensions.

It sure as hell does care. Read http://haali.net/mkv/codecs.pdf which goes into very specific detail on how to work with the "underlying codecs".

I have a feeling MKV is exactly what's needed right now.

And I have a feeling that you're wrong.

A lot of hi-def media devices are already supporting it, everything from China these days supports it.

Citation needed.

You can imagine that media companies hate it simply because it doesn't allow lock in to a format.

And in case you don't get it, this is not not like an OGG VOBIS debate; this is about using open standards for data.

1) Are you trying to suggest that OGG and *Vorbis* are not open standards? 2) MPEG (all revisions) and VP1 are also open standards.

You're making the equivalent argument that all documents should be in MS Office format because that's all you ever use.

MKV is here to stay simply because it's perfect for 2009.

When did he say that?

You can play files in the Matroska container on any platform that mplayer supports

Which of those platforms might be a set-top box or portable player sold in stores in North America?

As for AVI, how well does it support multiple video tracks? Multiple audio tracks?

AVI supports up to 256 audio streams and apparently even multiple video streams.

Soft subtitles?

A lone AVI file may not support subtitles, but the players do.

Chapters?

Pinocchio_01.avi, Pinocchio_02.avi, Pinocchio_03.avi... add all to playlist.

you can play Matroska files on the popular Popcorn Hour set-top box

Where can I buy one in North America?

and on the COWON A3

Where can I buy one with cash?

You can obtain meaningful PIE/PIF/jitter (etc) error information using certain plextor drives which in include error scanning modes (e.g. the 716a) and software such as plextools professional or PXSCAN/PXVIEW.

Alexander Noe's site also includes error readings from the main brands of DVD+R/-R (including TY) for comparison to your own discs.