is encoded and stored in a standard way can be played with any media player. You don’t need the player that the recording software provides you with, so you are not limited by its functionality. You can even make your own player should you wish to do so. For file formats, using standards is especially important to ensure that data can be accessed and exchanged smoothly at all times.
Vendor independence leads to open competition between different manufacturers. Competition usually leads to price drops, making life cheaper for you.
If you integrate a product that conforms to standards, your implementation will be future-safe, since you can replace this product without compromising your integration. You can probably even change the software platform on which you work, since implementations of standards are usually relatively easy to port. You can also “mix and