fsf.org — Now that Google has purchased video codec maker On2, they should make On2's VP8 a free format, and use YouTube's clout to make the format a global standard. Read our open letter to Google. This move would be so amazing for free software and the web!
Feb 19, 2010 View in Crawl 4
mrarpaFeb 20, 2010
H.264 is staying royalty free for Internet use until 2016, however the last US MPEG LA patents for H.264 will not expire until 2028. Basically this just seems to be an attempt to hook users on H.264 before they eventually start charging royalties. I'm right behind the release of VP8 under a royalty-free license, I'm sure it would be a spectacular success and earn Google an enormous amount of respect and goodwill.
mrarpaFeb 20, 2010
That's my reading of the situation as well. Sitting on their new codecs and letting them wither on the vine compared to H.264 would make no sense. Can't wait to see what happens.
lucid00Feb 20, 2010
Yeah, I wish WebKit supported APNGs, there have been talks of adding support though.
listless10kFeb 21, 2010
There are three codecs to consider in this situation:- H264, which is patented, but free for end-users. While this sounds fine, think about what happened with the similarly-licensed GIF format: it was voluntarily (but not necessarily) free for a number of years, allowing it to become a widely-used technology. Then, suddenly, the patent-holders introduced new licensing fees, forcing all software developers wanting to display GIF images to pay large royalties. You'll notice that many newer pieces of software have dropped support for GIF animation for this reason. Currently, Adobe Flash has a license to implement H264 encoding.- Ogg Theora, which is free and open-source. Google is currently of the opinion that it's not as efficient as H264, something that a lot of people disagree with.- On2 VP6/7/8, which is currently using a proprietary license similar to H264. However, Google bought On2 last August, so the hope is that they'll force the format into free/open-source territory and use it on Youtube, thus crushing H264 and ending the worry that H264 will start charging insane royalties.While currently the only programs needing licensing for video formats are Adobe Flash and stand-alone media players, HTML5 (which has partial implementation in Chrome/Safari) offers video without an external plug-in. This is great, but it means that web browsers that support the new <video> tag will need to acquire a license from any codecs it plans on supporting. Imagine how crippling it would be if Firefox had to pay large royalties to support H264! That's why so many people are adamant about driving non-free formats out of mainstream.
culytFeb 21, 2010
<a class="user" href="http://h3g3m0n.wordpress.com/2008/05/08/open-video-codecs-and-flash/" rel="nofollow">http://h3g3m0n.wordpress.com/2008/05/08/open-video ...</a>
icanruleFeb 21, 2010
Dear Google,You are so bad at making decisions that I want to make a call out to the public to try to make your new acquisition of the new codec free to the world. I could have left the decision up to you but you rarely make a decision that benefits the masses. To lead you down the proper path to redemption and clear your name I ask that you make this purchase, which we all knew was free anyways, available for no charge to the world.Thank you for your time. /s
luckimilMay 6, 2010
I think you should make the thing in open.WE should have more selections. Although you provide just two.Only throwing just little amount of money,you get stronger,what are you afraid?