YouTube, HTML5, and Comparing H.264 With Theora

David Gerard writes "Google Chrome includes Ogg support for the <video> element. It also includes support for the hideously encumbered H.264 format. Nice as an extra, but ... they're also testing HTML5 YouTube only for H.264 — meaning the largest video provider on the Net will make H.264 the primary codec and relegate the equally good open format Ogg/Theora firmly to the sidelines. Mike Shaver from Mozilla has fairly unambiguously asked Chris DiBona from Google what the heck Google thinks it's doing." DiBona responded with concerns that switching to Theora while maintaining quality would take up an incredible amount of bandwidth for a site like YouTube, though he made clear his support for the continued improvement of the project. Greg Maxwell jumped into the debate by comparing the quality of Ogg/Theora+Vorbis with the current YouTube implementations using H.263+MP3 and H.264+AAC. At the lower bitrate, Theora seems to have the clear edge, while the higher bitrate may slightly favor H.264. He concludes that YouTube's adoption of "an open unencumbered format in addition to or instead of their current offerings would not cause problems on the basis of quality or bitrate."

Comments

Google has a huge problem on its hands...

[tjstork]

If they don't start focusing on their core search. Just because Microsoft has bumbled in search for the last ten years doesn't mean that they won't get it right. They are clearly patient and willing to keep the assault up, and even if you do not like Bing, it is a huge step in the right direction for MS, and honestly, having played with it, I think Bing is better than what Google does in some ways.

Re:repeat of ogg?

[mr_stinky_britches]

iMacGuy wrote:

Why won't slashdot let me change my terrible username :(

Great sig- you just made my night, thanks!