Google has decided to drop the H.264 video codec out of their Chrome browser and future Chrome OS in favor of their proprietary format called WebM which I found out reduces storage by a factor of 2x. Google's defense in this is that they want an open web, not one where one has to pay royalties. While this may be true, their real target here is Apple. This move is intended to slow down Apple. Apple is a huge fan of h.264 having it in all their products expecially their iOS. When google switches, that means all of youtube videos may or may not play on apples devices. Possible boost for android here but one I don't really see being significant. Google is giving a big boost to Flash in this which is interesting since they have no stake in Adobe...leading to speculation that maybe one day they may try and buy them. Would be an interesting move which would cause Google to be even more of a competitor against Apple and Microsoft than they already all. For those who want to play h.264 videos in chrome, flash will be needed. Apple for those who don't know strictly ban flash from their devices.
More than likely consumers won't see much a change, at least initially but this could change at some point down the road. The real headache will be for web developers and those who work a lot with video.
No comments:
Post a Comment