UPDATED MPEG-LA Green Lights Web Video & Makes H.264 Free Forever
The struggle for the future of video on the web continues as H.264, Flash and Ogg battle it out.
Most important, the HTML5 method leaves it up to the browser to actually play the embedded video. And that’s where the biggest problem arises — what video codec should the browser use? Apple, with the iPad, iPhone and its desktop apps, is pushing the H.264 codec. But the H.264 video codec has licensing requirements and is not free in any sense of the word. UPDATED Moving from the Flash plug-in to the H.264 codec is like moving backward — from Flash to a more expensive Flash.
Mozilla has already said that Firefox will not support H.264. The company is instead backing Ogg Theora.
Since there’s no agreement among browser makers on a standard for open web video, it means that no matter which option you choose — HTML5 with H.264 or HTML5 with Ogg Theora — the best case scenario is that 20 to 25 percent of the web can see your video without needing a plug-in.
We can expect to see more export tools like that coming out of Adobe. Even if the Flash platform erodes away or changes shape as the web evolves — and it certainly will, just very slowly — Adobe will be able to maintain its relevance as a maker of developer tools that let people build apps for (almost) any audience.
