

Firefox will support VP8 (aka WebM) - AndrewHampton
http://hacks.mozilla.org/2010/05/firefox-youtube-and-webm/

======
neilc
_The VP8 codec represents a vast improvement in quality-per-bit over Theora
and is comparable in quality to H.264._

Interesting to see Mozilla support the idea that Theora provides markedly
worse quality-per-bit than H.264.

~~~
natmaster
I think before they were just claiming that Theora's quality was "good
enough".

------
tel
The post by Jason Garrett-Glaser
(<http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1361442>) suggests this move might be
strange for Mozilla since there's a high chance that VP8 will be patent
trolled soon.

~~~
tzs
Any particular reason to believe a patent troll will be involved, as opposed
to a company suing over patents that it practices?

~~~
tel
I suppose I didn't mean "patent troll", but instead spoke with a growing
distaste for the way patent law is practiced. When I read that article I found
difficulty locating where I stood between calling something a compression
technique and just... math.

~~~
tzs
I've never understood the "just math" argument. Couldn't a similar argument be
made against all drug patents ("just chemistry"), all mechanical device
patents ("just physics"), and so on?

~~~
tel
Oh, I agree that the argument applies more broadly than "just math". I'm also
not sure what the ideal patent protects. It seems to lie somewhere on the
discovery-invention axis, but I don't know where.

------
varjag
There is a lesson in it to folks who claimed Mozilla should just swallow and
go H.264.

~~~
evgen
And when Mozilla is sued by MPEG-LA for patent infringement will you say the
same thing? Of the companies who say they will support this codec so far I
think Opera is weakest and will be sued first, but Mozilla is domestic so they
might be the one to take one for the team...

~~~
varjag
Google will most likely be sued first.

Also, it's not like there wasn't ever a debate as to how much Theora _really_
is patent-clean.. So among the three it is clearly the best choice so far.

------
blasdel
Will they start using GStreamer in Firefox like in one of their Fennec
branches, or will they just add libvpx along with the existing liboggplay and
implement their own half-baked media handling layer?

~~~
doublec
We went for the "own half-baked media handling layer". liboggplay is no longer
used in Firefox trunk btw.

------
w1ntermute
So WebM support won't be added to Firefox 3.7?

~~~
mbrubeck
There will be no Firefox 3.7; it has been renamed to Firefox 4.

WebM may also be backported to Firefox 3.6, but people inside Mozilla are just
starting to talk about that so there are no firm plans yet.

------
jrockway
Well, that's the end of H.264. Knowing that Apple, Microsoft, and Adobe won't
be getting licensing fees for most Internet video is just wonderful.

