Lately, we’ve discussed some interesting new features in HTML5 for video playback. Phill explored options for dealing with inconsistent features and support between multiple browsers. However, these options are somewhat cumbersome as they add additional time to producing and delivering your content. Understanding the valid reasons for these inconsistencies is key for developing work-arounds to create a seamless A/V experience.

Audio and video must be compressed and encoded to be delivered on the web. There are several different technologies available to content producers to do this. One of the two biggest forms is free and open source and the other contains protected patents. Various companies have patents in that technology and require a license for them to be utilized but it has become the accepted industry standard. The open source technology was once patented but has been released as open source to the public domain. Browser support for these technologies is inconsistent because browser developers need to pay a licensing fee to enable playback of the patented encoded files. Because of the varying technologies available, content producers will need to be aware of their support on the web and will need to manage multiple versions of the same content to ensure playback for their entire audience. This means more time for production, storage space, and bandwidth.

The major video technologies in the debate are H.264 and OGG. H.264 has become the standard for video encoding and is used everywhere from Blu-Ray disks to YouTube and is licensed on behalf of a multitude of companies by the Motion Pictures Export Group-LA. You have heard of MPEG by their “Layer-3” audio format known as “mp3” and now MPEG-4 for H.264. Mp3’s have become virtually synonymous with digital audio and mp4’s encoded with H.264 are well on their way as the standard video format. OGG is a competing format derived from a proprietary technology by On2 that has been released as open source.

Yet while H.264 is the accepted standard in practice and OGG is free, browser support for these formats vary greatly because web browser manufacturers need to be paid for the right to playback H.264.

Note that IE7 and IE8 aren’t in this table because they do not support either format. IE9 which is still in development will support H.264 when it is eventually released in late 2010 or early 2011.

The varied support needs be put in context to browser market share.

The biggest shares have no support and the second largest share doesn’t support the accepted standard. Why the disparity?

Firefox and Opera are strictly open source browsers and the organizations that maintain them want to keep it open source. This means not including patented technologies like H.264. They have committed to OGG to remain completely open and not pay licensing fees.

When you think of video on the web, YouTube immediately comes to mind. While they use Flash to deliver content for most browsers, they are beginning to use HTML5 for playback of their content which is entirely encoded as H.264. Google’s own open source engineering manager has expressed that OGG’s performance is inferior compared to H.264 specifically noting that bandwidth costs would be considerably higher because of the great difference in file sizes.

Microsoft and Apple are parties of interest to H.264 as they are one of the many companies MPEG works on behalf of. Microsoft contributes to the group so that H.264 can natively play on Windows OS. Both companies argue that the OGG’s licensing isn’t entirely clear because it is based on formerly patented software will not support it in Internet Explorer and Safari browsers.

Native audio playback in browsers exhibit the same issues as video for the same reasons. The strictly open source browsers will only support open source encoders.

Just as with video, to effectively reach all audiences two versions of the content need to be produced, stored, and distributed. MP3s are the ubiquitous format for digital audio and are 10x smaller than wav files. Extrapolate this size difference for hundreds of audio files on a website and the need for more storage space on your web server, file backups, and bandwidth grows exponentially.

The Flash player plugin has been the solution for media playback for many years. As of September 2009, Flash has been adopted by 99% of desktop web users making it a very reliable choice.  However it’s support on mobile devices is not as great. Developers need to explore options to ensure delivery. Read about one solution we recently explored called “Video for Everyone.”

It is clear that the group which drafts the specifications for HTML5, the W3C, will not make either competing technology the standard as it is not their position to dictate video standards. This means the disparity in playback support will most likely never be fully resolved and will remain a complicated environment.

Despite what appears to be a complicated road ahead, successful A/V management and integration on the web isn’t a pipe dream. With Silverscape’s development experts on your team, custom solutions can be created to ensure harmonious A/V delivery. Give us a call to learn more at 617.338.8922 or contact us here.