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VP8 Open Source Announcement

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VP8 Open Source Announcement
Colin Dixon, Senior Partner, Advisory

 

May 19, 2010

Today, at the Google developer’s conference, GoogleIO, the company announced that the ON2 VP8 codec has been completely open-sourced. The video codec is being united with the Vorbis audio codec under the webm effort. VP8 is available under a completely royalty-free license.

Support for webm is being built in to browsers such as Chrome, Opera and Mozilla. This means that a video provided in the format does not need a separate player; it will play natively in the browser. Also, YouTube will fully support the format. Kevin Lynch, CTO of Adobe, also announced full support for the codec in Flash. This is important as Flash is the dominant video delivery mechanism on the Internet.

The ON2 codec was one of the earliest of the new advanced codecs. As the most efficient codec of its time, it allowed companies such as Move networks to provide adaptive streaming at HD quality. Early adopters of the codec were companies such as Fox.com and ABC.com. Google purchased On2 for $120M in 2009.

The release of VP8 to the open community without license fee is an important development. Google has the muscle to guarantee wide use and acceptance of the codec. YouTube serves 13 times more video content than any other site in the US. As well, the 70M users of Chrome browser will also have support for the codec built in. For content developers, VP8 is a safe option to guarantee that content will play on a wide array of PCs and Netbooks.

Less clear is the value of the codec to non-PC devices. Certainly we can expect full support in Android phones. But support at the TV is far less clear. Devices such as Game Consoles and STBs are not going to get support for the codec anytime soon. Major SoC providers such as Intel and Broadcom do not support it. Until they do, getting support in an STB or TV directly is years away. Perhaps we will hear more about that from Google tomorrow (as has been widely rumored.) So, VP8 as a solution for multi-screen delivery is still not viable. Your best bet for that remains H.264.

However, if your video distribution plans are limited to PCs and android phones VP8 could be the smart choice.



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Only published comments... May 19 2010, 01:31 PM by Colin Dixon
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About Colin Dixon

 

Colin Dixon
Senior Partner, Advisory
Formerly: Senior Executive at Microsoft/Web TV, Liberate and Oracle

Colin Dixon is the senior partner for TDG’s advisory services. He is a Senior Technology Consultant with a background building and managing all aspects of a technical business. His extensive experience includes new media, communications, networking and network management - industries where he has a proven record of developing and delivering top quality products and services on time to meet market needs.

Colin has held senior executive positions at Microsoft/WebTV, Liberate and Oracle where he was responsible for technology and business teams delivering to the Cable, Satellite and IPTV industries. Over the last 15 years, he has led various corporate departments including engineering, business development, product and program management and marketing.

Colin is a published author and accomplished speaker including presentations at major industry shows such as NAB and IBC. He graduated from the University of Reading in England with a Bachelor of Science degree in Electrical Engineering. He holds a Masters in Engineering from the University of Florida and has post-graduate business education experience from Stanford.