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Mozilla's VP of Engineering On H.264

Posted by Soulskill on from the on-again-ogg-again dept.

We recently discussed news that YouTube and Vimeo are each testing their own HTML5 video players using the H.264 format. Firefox does not support H.264, and Mozilla's vice president of engineering, Mike Shaver, has now made a post explaining why. Quoting: "For Mozilla, H.264 is not currently a suitable technology choice. In many countries, it is a patented technology, meaning that it is illegal to use without paying license fees to the MPEG-LA. Without such a license, it is not legal to use or distribute software that produces or consumes H.264-encoded content. Indeed, even distributing H.264 content over the internet or broadcasting it over the airwaves requires the consent of the MPEG-LA, and the current fee exemption for free-to-the-viewer internet delivery is only in effect until the end of 2010. These license fees affect not only browser developers and distributors, but also represent a toll booth on anyone who wishes to produce video content." Mozilla developer Robert O'Callahan has written a blog post on the same subject, following a talk he gave on Friday about the importance of open video on the web.

3 of 675 comments (clear)

  1. Re:So are Google and all the bunch just dumb? by Rockoon · · Score: 1, Troll

    Mozilla has money too. A lot of money.

    They've had no problem using patented technology in the past (such as GIF) so clearly the arguement is not against patented technology, but instead against licensing fee's.

    Well fuck you, Mr PleaseSendUsMoneySoThatWeCanMakeFirefoxBetterWhileIGiveMyselfABigFatBonus. H.264 support would, by definition, make FireFox better.

    --
    "His name was James Damore."
  2. documenting it on http://en.swpat.org by H4x0r+Jim+Duggan · · Score: 1, Troll

        Regarding software patents, I've gathered some info already about H.264 and the standards problem:

    It's a public wiki, help welcome.

    --
    Please help publicise swpat.org - the software patents wiki
  3. Do no Evil ????? by DrLov3 · · Score: 1, Troll

    Step #1 : Buy youtube.

    Step #2 : Switch the video format on youtube to H.264, a proprietary format that free browsers can't afford the licenses it needs to distribute a reader for it.

    Step #3 : Push H.264 part of the open standard HTML 5, even though it's not open at all, thus further shoving free browsers downward the spiral.

    Step #4 : Win the browser War, pwn the internet, make profit with ur browser built in search engine.


    ..... F***ers, .... (Shakes Fist)
    We were paying attention....