<s>
Sorenson	B-Application
Media	I-Application
was	O
an	O
American	O
software	O
company	O
specializing	O
in	O
video	O
encoding	O
technology	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
company	O
first	O
announced	O
its	O
codec	B-General_Concept
(	O
compression	O
and	O
decompression	O
tool	O
)	O
at	O
a	O
developer	O
’s	O
preview	O
at	O
MacWorld	O
Expo	O
in	O
January	O
1997	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
One	O
of	O
the	O
company	O
's	O
best	O
known	O
products	O
is	O
the	O
Sorenson	O
Video	O
codec	B-General_Concept
licensed	O
to	O
Apple	O
Inc	O
.	O
for	O
their	O
QuickTime	B-Application
3.0	O
software	B-Application
.	I-Application
</s>
<s>
Since	O
its	O
release	O
,	O
Sorenson	B-Application
Media	I-Application
’s	O
video	O
encoding	O
technology	O
was	O
used	O
in	O
Apple	O
's	O
trailer	O
web	O
site	O
and	O
video	O
clips	O
for	O
film	O
studios	O
such	O
as	O
Disney	O
,	O
Lucasfilm	O
,	O
MGM	O
,	O
and	O
Paramount	O
,	O
as	O
well	O
as	O
Apple	B-Operating_System
's	I-Operating_System
iTunes	I-Operating_System
music	O
videos	O
,	O
before	O
the	O
switch	O
to	O
the	O
industry	O
standard	O
H.264	B-Application
format	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
In	O
2003	O
Sorenson	O
released	O
its	O
VP-100	O
model	O
stand-alone	O
videotelephony	B-Application
product	O
for	O
users	O
with	O
hearing	O
loss	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
It	O
also	O
provided	O
a	O
remote	B-Protocol
control	I-Protocol
,	O
and	O
a	O
video	O
compression	O
codec	B-General_Concept
designed	O
for	O
improved	O
video	O
quality	O
and	O
ease	O
of	O
use	O
with	O
a	O
Video	O
Relay	O
Service	O
(	O
VRS	O
)	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Following	O
the	O
introduction	O
of	O
similar	O
videophones	B-Application
by	O
other	O
electronics	O
manufacturers	O
,	O
the	O
availability	O
of	O
high	O
speed	O
Internet	O
,	O
and	O
sponsored	O
video	O
relay	O
services	O
authorized	O
by	O
the	O
U.S.	O
Federal	O
Communications	O
Commission	O
in	O
2002	O
,	O
VRS	O
for	O
the	O
deaf	O
underwent	O
rapid	O
growth	O
in	O
the	O
United	O
States	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Sorenson	O
codec	B-General_Concept
may	O
refer	O
to	O
any	O
of	O
three	O
proprietary	B-Application
video	O
codecs	B-General_Concept
:	O
</s>
<s>
Two	O
versions	O
of	O
Sorenson	O
Video	O
were	O
released	O
,	O
both	O
using	O
SVQ1	O
as	O
their	O
FourCC	B-Application
.	O
</s>
<s>
Version	O
one	O
first	O
appeared	O
with	O
the	O
release	O
of	O
QuickTime	B-Application
3	O
on	O
March	O
30	O
,	O
1998	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
backward-compatible	O
version	O
two	O
was	O
released	O
with	O
QuickTime	B-Application
4	O
on	O
March	O
11	O
,	O
1999	O
,	O
which	O
mainly	O
included	O
minor	O
improvements	O
and	O
optimizations	O
to	O
the	O
Developer	O
Edition	O
of	O
the	O
encoder	O
,	O
so	O
encoded	O
movies	O
would	O
be	O
backwards	O
compatible	O
with	O
the	O
QuickTime	B-Application
3	O
release	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
This	O
format	O
uses	O
a	O
YCbCr	O
4:1:0	O
chroma	O
subsampling	O
,	O
which	O
means	O
every	O
block	O
of	O
eight	O
pixels	O
share	O
the	O
same	O
color	O
components	O
,	O
which	O
can	O
cause	O
color	B-General_Concept
bleeding	I-General_Concept
across	O
pixels	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
FFmpeg	B-Library
supports	O
decoding	O
of	O
Sorenson	O
Video	O
since	O
2002	O
,	O
encoding	O
of	O
SVQ1	O
was	O
added	O
in	O
2004	O
for	O
0.4.9-pre1	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Version	O
two	O
was	O
given	O
wide	O
exposure	O
from	O
the	O
release	O
of	O
the	O
teaser	O
trailer	O
for	O
Star	B-Application
Wars	I-Application
:	I-Application
Episode	I-Application
I	I-Application
–	I-Application
The	I-Application
Phantom	I-Application
Menace	I-Application
on	O
March	O
11	O
,	O
1999	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
official	O
specifications	O
of	O
the	O
codec	B-General_Concept
are	O
not	O
public	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
For	O
a	O
long	O
time	O
the	O
only	O
way	O
to	O
play	O
back	O
Sorenson	O
Video	O
was	O
to	O
use	O
Apple	O
's	O
QuickTime	B-Application
or	O
MPlayer	B-Application
,	O
which	O
used	O
DLL	O
files	O
extracted	O
from	O
QuickTime	B-Application
for	O
Windows	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
This	O
incompatible	O
version	O
of	O
Sorenson	O
Video	O
uses	O
SVQ3	O
as	O
its	O
FourCC	B-Application
.	O
</s>
<s>
This	O
version	O
was	O
released	O
with	O
QuickTime	B-Application
5.0.2	O
on	O
July	O
1	O
,	O
2001	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
It	O
was	O
available	O
exclusively	O
for	O
QuickTime	B-Application
.	O
</s>
<s>
Apple	B-Application
QuickTime	I-Application
later	O
focused	O
on	O
other	O
compression	O
formats	O
and	O
moved	O
Sorenson	O
Video	O
3	O
to	O
a	O
separate	O
group	O
called	O
"	O
legacy	O
encoders	O
"	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
According	O
to	O
an	O
anonymous	O
developer	O
of	O
FFmpeg	B-Library
,	O
reverse	O
engineering	O
of	O
the	O
SVQ3	O
codec	B-General_Concept
(	O
Sorenson	O
Video	O
3	O
)	O
revealed	O
it	O
as	O
a	O
tweaked	O
version	O
of	O
H.263	B-Algorithm
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
same	O
developer	O
added	O
support	O
for	O
this	O
codec	B-General_Concept
to	O
FFmpeg	B-Library
.	O
</s>
<s>
FFmpeg	B-Library
supports	O
decoding	O
of	O
"	O
Sorenson	O
Vector	O
Quantizer	O
3	O
"	O
(	O
fourcc	B-Application
SVQ3	O
)	O
and	O
Sorenson	O
Vector	O
Quantizer	O
1	O
(	O
fourcc	B-Application
SVQ1	O
)	O
starting	O
with	O
version	O
0.4.7	O
,	O
released	O
in	O
2003	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Sorenson	O
Spark	O
is	O
an	O
implementation	O
of	O
H.263	B-Algorithm
for	O
use	O
in	O
Flash	B-Operating_System
Video	I-Operating_System
and	O
Adobe	O
Flash	O
files	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
FFmpeg	B-Library
uses	O
FLV1	B-Operating_System
FourCC	B-Application
and	O
Adobe	O
frame	O
identifiers	O
of	O
0x21	O
,	O
0x22	O
and	O
0x23	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
As	O
Apple	O
began	O
to	O
use	O
MPEG-4	B-Algorithm
and	O
move	O
away	O
from	O
other	O
proprietary	B-Application
codecs	B-General_Concept
,	O
Sorenson	B-Application
Media	I-Application
licensed	O
Sorenson	O
Spark	O
(	O
Sorenson	O
H.263	B-Algorithm
)	O
to	O
Macromedia	O
,	O
which	O
was	O
included	O
with	O
Macromedia	B-Operating_System
Flash	I-Operating_System
MX	I-Operating_System
v6	O
on	O
March	O
4	O
,	O
2002	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Sorenson	O
Spark	O
is	O
the	O
required	O
video	O
compression	O
format	O
for	O
Flash	B-Operating_System
Player	I-Operating_System
6	O
and	O
7	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Macromedia	O
later	O
tried	O
to	O
find	O
a	O
better	O
video	O
codec	B-General_Concept
.	O
</s>
<s>
Starting	O
with	O
Flash	B-Operating_System
Player	I-Operating_System
8	O
(	O
released	O
in	O
September	O
2005	O
)	O
,	O
the	O
preferred	O
video	O
codec	B-General_Concept
became	O
VP6	B-Algorithm
.	O
</s>
<s>
Sorenson	O
Spark	O
can	O
be	O
still	O
used	O
in	O
the	O
Adobe	B-Operating_System
Flash	I-Operating_System
CS4	I-Operating_System
Professional	I-Operating_System
(	O
2008	O
)	O
for	O
Flash	B-Operating_System
Video	I-Operating_System
files	O
(	O
alongside	O
H.264	B-Application
and	O
VP6	B-Algorithm
)	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
According	O
to	O
Adobe	O
engineer	O
Tinic	O
Uro	O
,	O
Sorenson	O
Spark	O
is	O
an	O
incomplete	O
implementation	O
of	O
H.263	B-Algorithm
.	O
</s>
<s>
FFmpeg	B-Library
in	O
2003	O
added	O
encoding	O
and	O
decoding	O
support	O
for	O
Sorenson	O
H.263	B-Algorithm
.	O
</s>
