How Google Won the Html5 Video Standards War

Today google open sourced the vp8 video codec which they acquired when they purchased On2 Technologies which has triggered the largest splash i’ve seen in the internet world in a long time. Everyone knew they were going to do it and there was a buzz of speculation surrounding the rumors of what it would do for current standards war occuring in the web browser market. I, myself, stated some time ago that it could be game changer since it would provide the much needed ‘third party’ standard that was needed to prevent another standards fragmentation for web content.

For those of you who need context, this is all about the up and coming html5 standard and how next generation web browsers are going to handle a very controversial video tag which enables these browsers to play video content without the aid of external plugins (ie Flash) consistently across different platforms. For years flash has been a tremendous equalizer that has allowed people to take off the shackles of their operating system and wander freely (ie Try linux or Mac). Youtube is the killer app for this technology and as it has evolved to become the premiere site for web video we find the google now holds the gun since minimal user expectations dictate that web browsers must support youtube.

When the w3c got together to draft the next generation standards for web functionality there was much rejoice when the video tag was announced as it was a feature that has been much needed for a long time. The problem web browser vendors faced was that there was no codec specified to satisfy the standard so it was left to them to arbitrarily implement with whatever codec they felt was appropriate. The follow up controversy was not really any surprise to anyone; we had VHS versus BETA all over again. Let the market tip the scales and let the chips fall where they may.

Again, not unsurprisingly, two camps quickly formed. One side propped up the much championed open source codec theora which upheld the principles of the free software community and could easily be adopted. On the other side, propped up by commercial interests was h264, a technically superior but ultimately proprietary codec that comes with a hefty price tag to license. Apple and Microsoft, being the commercial powerhouses of the web obviously opted for h264 citing a litany of defenses for their decision all buzzing around potential patent issues (thanks to our fucked up and broken intellectual property laws). Firefox being the poster child for the success of open source software abstained from h264 as a matter of principle and opted for theora.

To the end user, none of this matters much as long as everything works but as an experienced web developer this whole issue was an instant headache and was exactly like the issue with images where browser support was inconsistent with png files. The solution to ensure a consistent web experience for the end user was a grab bag of workarounds, hacks, and plain frustration. The possibility that I would have to endure this for videos also was enough to make me cry. The pain was inevitable since both sides had dug in their heels.

By releasing the vp8 codec, google has given us a third option which seems unencumbered by the cons of the existing contenders. The codec is qualitatively on par with h264 without the licensing fees and it is open the way theora is essentially making the codec the best of both worlds. Commercial interests can be preserved without the threat of patent litigation since the codec was purchased plain and fair by google and officially open sourced. Once again, google has proven to put its money where its mouth is by supporting true open standards and essentially de-mining the internet for us developers.

The part that was a shock to me was not that they actually went through with it. The shock was the immediate positive reaction from the entire industry, most notabely, Microsofts pledged to support vp8 in internet explorer 9. I have been watching my twitter feeds blow up today with announcements of vp8 support from everyone. Even if google’s motives were not pure, I am still grateful. It feels as though a major disaster has been averted at the zero hour.