tequila bomb

Google introduces yet another Web Video Standard

Google says it aims to create an open web standard for video, one that doesn’t have closed, proprietary ownership like MPEG LA’s H.264

So we now have an obscure web video standard (VP8), currently without any hardware support, being pushed by Google against H.264, which is currently supported by Apple and Microsoft – and does have hardware acceleration.

In the short term VP8 doesn’t look like a good bet for mobile. But I am sure Google aim to remedy that for Android at least.

Google have enlisted an ally in this push as well :

Adobe’s CEO Kevin Lynch mentioned at the end of his presentation that Adobe would be pushing out a VP8-compatible version of Flash to its 1 billion Flash clients; one that would be a VP8 Trojan Horse for Apple’s Safari browser and Internet Explorer.

• Internet Explorer and Safari have about 66% of the browser market (H.264)
• Chrome, Firefox, and Opera have the other 33% (VP8)
• Google’s Youtube makes up about 40% of all video content on the Web

Ladies and Gentlemen, we have a new format war.