Google says Chrome will kick its H.26Four Loko habit
Is it hyperbolic to call Google's move to withdraw built-in H.264 video codec support in future versions of Chrome the opening shot in a media format war no less significant than Betamax vs. VHS and HD-DVD vs. Blu-ray?
Ars Technica carries the story if you're looking for background.
I am astonished to hear this news. And while has yet to deliver on this, if Google depractes H.264 support in their browser it will have an enormous effect in boosting unencumbered technologies that are free to use like WebM and Theora. Though this may be annoying in the short term (I sometimes watch and encode H.264 videos myself), it will give a boost to the free alternatives just by necessity--people want their content to be seen on a browser that has around ten percent of the market and is growing fast.
Desktop users can still use a different browser for H.264 content. Safari can play such video, for example.
It seemed like Google had an iron in both fires on this one--the current version of Chrome was supporting both Theora and H.264, for example. Maybe competition with Apple and Microsoft, both backers of H.264, is driving this to some extent. Now that change is coming, Google has showed where they are lined up on this one--in favor of the open web, even despite short-term technical hassles.
[I previously discussed the H.264 vs. WebM debate in an oggcast.]
