WebM video hits Android with Gingerbread in the fall
updated 09:35 am EDT, Thu May 20, 2010
Google's VP8 codec will be in next-gen mobile OS
Support for the WebM open Internet media standard will be integrated into the next version of Google's Android mobile operating system, according to a statement on the WebM Project FAQ page. Codenamed Gingerbread, the latest release of Android is targeted for Q4 2010. The WebM Project is an open source development effort, sponsored in part by Google, that uses Google's VP8 codec for web video and the Ogg Vorbis audio codec.
Google acquired the VP8 codec with the purchase of On2 Technologies, and has incorporated WebM into YouTube's HTML5 beta version. The WebM developers also state in the FAQ that they see "many other Google products" using WebM and VP8 in the future.
Critics of the WebM format point out that it lacks hardware acceleration support and may have patent issues. After it was shown at the Google I/O day 1 keynote, the developer of a competing open source standard raised questions about possible infringement with the proprietary H.264 codec. Neither Google nor the developers for WebM have responded as yet to this claim.
