UNIX and Linux development company Fluendo has partnered with multimedia software consultancy Collabora to launch the free and open-source cross-platform GStreamer SDK and multimedia programming framework. GStreamer targets desktop and server (and embedded automotive IVI) platforms including Linux, Windows, and Mac OS X, with Android on the way.
The companies state that GStreamer is “already the de-facto standard” multimedia platform for Linux-based operating systems — elsewhere the technology is more modestly described as a “widely used” open source multimedia library on Linux.
A pipeline-based architecture will be able to offer developers plenty of flexibility in terms of user’s usage; i.e., the product works with functions from playback to editing. Collabora partner Fluendo uses GStreamer in its Moovida media player and the technology is also used in the Songbird music player and GNOME’s Totem and Rhythmbox media players.
ISV and software developers will be able to target the SDK as a unified platform with their product offerings. This open platform will serve as a tool to certify GStreamer products — and in this context, Fluendo plans to offer its suite of commercial audio and video codecs for the SDK, and Collabora will offer its consulting services and IP conferencing and video editing components.
“The GStreamer SDK will offer a completely new way to get started with GStreamer. Developers will be able to depend on the tested and certified SDK, knowing that their application will work across all supported operating systems and architectures, instead of dealing with the intricacies of assembling, testing, and building media engines across multiple platforms themselves,” said the company.
In line with this announcement, there is also a new GStreamer website with additional documentation, including programming tutorials and information about packaging and deploying applications that use GStreamer on various platforms.
