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Microsoft brings Firefox H.264 video support to Windows 7
Mozilla doesn't support the proprietary H.264 video format in Firefox, but Microsoft does. While Mozilla has been pushing open-source WebM as the format of choice for HTML5 video tags (with Google's help), Microsoft has released a new plug-in that lets Firefox take advantage of Windows 7's native H.264 support. The plug-in looks for HTML5 video tags and passes the video to the Windows Media Player plug-in for playback. This workaround does make video on the Web more accessible for Windows 7 users, but it doesn't end the Web video format wars. There's still no single format supported by every current browser in every current OS. Microsoft is framing it as an issue of consumer choice and access to content, but H.264 is still proprietary and subject to licensing fees that Mozilla doesn't want to pay. Supporting an open source format such as WebM makes both financial and philosophical sense for the future of Firefox.
Comments
4
Subscribe to commentsTrueEddieDec 15th 2010 3:31PM
This article on Engadget (http://www.engadget.com/2010/08/26/mpeg-la-makes-h-264-video-royalty-free-forever-as-long-as-its/) leads me to believe that Mozilla wouldn't have to pay any fees to incorporate h.264, am I wrong in thinking this?
ChrisSskDec 15th 2010 4:26PM
@TrueEddie
That article says that H.264 is free to end users.
We users wont have to pay MPEG-LA in order to watch a H.264 video. Mozilla will have to pay for a license so it can decode H.264.
BTW I think that announcement was just for show and has no real importance. H.264 free until 2016 like it used to be or free forever makes little difference, since H.265 (or whatever its called) will probably replace it by 2013
JarasMDec 15th 2010 3:40PM
Actually, WebM is supported by every major browser EXCEPT Internet Explorer (FF, Opera, Chrome). I have to admit, I was pretty sure the format had already won, especially with Youtube's adoption.
wiiabooDec 21st 2010 1:39PM
@JarasM
It hardly won, since it's only so good as H.264 Baseline. Even Theora would be better at this point of VP8's development.