Google pulls H.264 HTML5 support from Chrome

updated 05:20 pm EST, Tue January 11, 2011

Google yanks H264 in Chrome to force HTML5

Google today said it was dropping support for H.264 video in Chrome's HTML5 component. It acknowledged that the more popular format had an "important role" but hoped it could force adoption of its open but internally-developed WebM format as well as Ogg Theora. The company claimed that opening up the VP8 codec underneath led to major speed improvements as well as widespread adoption.

The changes would take place over the next two months and were being detailed in advance in hopes sites would voluntarily switch over their HTML5 video to WebM. It's unknown if extensions or plugins could bring the codec back.

Abandoning H.264 is a potentially risky move for Google. The majority of HTML5-enabled video on the web uses H.264 and in many cases was put online to help support the iPad and other devices that don't have built-in Flash. Whether or not WebM will survive as a format is equally unknown. In spite of Google's insistences, the MPEG-LA standards group, Apple and Microsoft have warned that WebM may violate patents and could face legal trouble without royalty payments.

Commenters on the company's blog entry have also accused Google of hypocrisy due to its connection to Adobe. Its willingness to not only endorse the use of Adobe's proprietary Flash standard but to integrate it directly into Chrome appears to directly contradict claims of only supporting open video formats. Flash players embedded into websites are open, but developers usually have a limited number of tools and can't contribute to the Flash spec.

The move similarly eliminates Chrome from the list of eligible browsers for certain tools, such as large-scale video encoders. Most professional video editing tools don't support WebM, and Google is unlikely to get any help for Final Cut Studio outside of an official plugin.

By Electronista Staff

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iPhone, industry, software, digital imaging, Google, mobile phones, Apple, Chrome, iPad, WebM, MPEG-LA

QualleyIV

Fresh-Faced Recruit

Joined: Aug 2001

+51

01/11, 05:28pm | report spam | close reply

So much for not being evil...

That's a pretty MS-esque move if I do say so myself.

droz

Joined: Jul 2009

+28

01/11, 06:05pm | report spam | (1 reply) close | reply

Goodbye Chrome

Right as I was starting to come around to Chrome they pull this s***.

F Google. Back to Firefox it is.

MyRightEye

Joined: Apr 2008

+17

01/11, 06:06pm | report spam | close reply

Hmmm... That's a problem...

New Finder Window > Applications > Select Google Chrome > Command-Delete > Problem solved.

WiseWeasel

Junior Member

Joined: Apr 1999

+24

01/11, 06:13pm | report spam | close reply

Booo!

As a web developer, Google has just shafted me big time, and they get a big middle finger in return. So now Chrome is another Flash fall-back browser, with a sh1tty user experience for my users on Chrome. Congratu-freaking-lations, Google! You've just propped up Flash for another few years. Google can go to h3ll.

facebook_Tony

Via Facebook

Joined: Jan 2011

01/11, 06:13pm | report spam | (1 reply) close | reply

No big surprise

Apple and MPEG-LA quick to lash out, a bit of the pot calling the kettle black. h.264 isn't open source either and they have already proposed royalty/licensing fees proposed to begin in sometime around 2014. Ogg theora is the only video codec (currently) that is truly open source but sadly is subpar in terms of size and quality of compression compared to h.264.

chas_m

Moderator

01/11, 06:18pm | report spam | close reply

Chrome had privacy issues before

and now it has just stepped up and declared itself the next IE.

See ya. In fact -- not just based on this one action, but on the overall direction of Google of late -- I'm going to follow a few friends' leads and try to discontinue all use of Google to the extent possible. That means moving my blogs to Wordpress from Blogspot, setting my default search engine somewhere else (ironically, Bing in all likelihood) and eventually (this will be more complicated) migrating my gmail account away.

I encourage others to do the same. Google apparently needs some feedback from their users about their current direction.

wr11

Dedicated MacNNer

Joined: Feb 2001

01/11, 06:23pm | report spam | close reply

Wouldn't the QuickTime plugin just take over?

I don't know but I suspect that perhaps the QuickTime plugin would just take over or an extension+plugin combo.

pairof9s

Forum Regular

Joined: Jan 2008

01/11, 06:31pm | report spam | (1 reply) close | reply

Doesn't make sense...

I understand talking out of both sides of their mouth in promoting their own development (isn't Flash a video format, Google?!) and stating support for open & popular standards, but to outright drop H.264 support seems to be blatantly self-serving.

I think this WebM will go the way of Silverlight and SVG...nice but nowhere near popular.

/

001

Joined: Dec 2010

01/11, 06:37pm | report spam | close reply

Well, damn it

Just as a lot of web-developers had gotten used to the idea of using .h264 and had started moving away from flash we have google ripping it out of Chrome. I donâ€™t really like Chrome and only use it as a Flash player for those few sites I visit that still use Flash, but yeah, this does upset the ecosystem.

Is this the biggest power-play weâ€™ve seen Google make? I canâ€™t think of any others that are comparable.

bjojade

Joined: Jun 2007

+11

01/11, 06:39pm | report spam | close reply

Why drop it?

The goal is to get their new video standard to be more popular. However, by removing the competition's video formats will only result in a non standard experience for users. Instead of making their format more popular, the result will be people switching to other browsers that work on the sites they want. Chrome isn't anywhere near big enough yet to be able to control the market in this way.

facebook_Justin

+21

01/11, 06:54pm | report spam | (1 reply) close | reply

comment title

The reason there doing this is simple. The Verizon iPhone was released today, which is pretty much the death sentence to Android. There trying to make HTML5 look bad so they can make Flash, and Android look good, compared to the Flashless iPhone. Absolutely pathetic and really shows you how bad Google is.

01/11, 06:55pm | report spam | close reply

I think the key here is HTML H.264

QuickTime delivered H.264 would not be affected. They are not dropping plugin support. Just the direct tag support of H.264

zimbardo

Joined: Aug 2004

+12

01/11, 07:00pm | report spam | close reply

Can't trust Google

Google is trying to stab the HTML5 consortium in the back, and I hope they fail!

houstonmacbro

Mac Enthusiast

Joined: Nov 2005

+10

01/11, 07:26pm | report spam | close reply

Right on chas_m

I have been slowly dropping Google services. This is just the latest in a compelling reason for me to go paid services or other free services. I am feeling that Google is becoming more like the Microsoft of old.

mgpalma

Joined: Sep 2000

01/11, 08:50pm | report spam | close reply

Well Chrome just became obsolete @ our company

Odd move.

IE sucks enough. (not an MS-hating comment but a non-compliant css standards one)

wrenchy

Joined: Nov 2009

-24

01/11, 09:03pm | report spam | (1 reply) close | reply

That is Correct.

Facebook_Tony is right. H264 could be licensed at any time. It's free now because they want the format adopted by as many people as possible. Then, charge for it.

Now that's sneaky.

If Apple developed another codec, I'm sure the fanbois would jump on board with abandoning any existing formats around to support the Mothership.

iHippocrates.

Rezzz

Joined: Jan 2006

01/11, 10:11pm | report spam | close reply

Puhlease

The moment a company begins charging for formats is the moment it gets replaced ala GIF > PNG. There's simply not enough opportunity for lock-in, when the platform is the web.

Athens

Addicted to MacNN

Joined: Jan 2003

01/11, 10:31pm | report spam | close reply

F Google. Back to Safari it is.

Not only that bye bye gmail and all of google services, i'll just get mobileme again. It had better support for syncing my stuff between Mac, Windows and iPhone. Never did like how I couldn't sync everything with Outlook yet MobileMe could.

chefpastry

01/11, 11:11pm | report spam | close reply

@ wrenchy

You sc_mbag, m_therf_cker. No one called you any names here, so don't call any of us hypocrites.

Salty

Professional Poster

Joined: Jul 2005

01/11, 11:17pm | report spam | (1 reply) close | reply

This is bull

This is bull, I don't know how they can have possibly thought that this would make ANYONE but the 5 Ogg Theora nuts out there happy. I'd rather they do their best to support every standard they can, than try and force things on users. For Windows users I've recommended Chrome for a long time. On Mac it's not as nice but it's my secondary browser. It's not as bloated feeling as Firefox or IE, and it's been pretty secure against everyone but Google.

Now I guess I'm back to recommending Safari or Firefox.

bleee

Joined: Mar 2002

01/11, 11:28pm | report spam | close reply

Slowly turning into Microsoft

So they support Flash because it's the de-facto standard but pull support for H.264 to promote their own codec WebM????

When are they going to remove built in support for Flash?

cartoonspin

Joined: Sep 2003

01/11, 11:39pm | report spam | close reply

Interesting...

What is going on at Google these days? They seem very misguided. If it weren't for Android, they would wouldn't be in the news.

monkeymilk

Joined: Apr 2007

01/12, 12:32am | report spam | (1 reply) close | reply

Evil

How is this 'Do no Evil' or did Google give up on this mantra years ago? This is blatantly in Google's self interest, not the end users. This is far more cynical than the whole 'No Flash on iOS' debacle that has earned countless column inches. In the Flash on iOS case at least Flash never really worked and an argument could be made that it was in the interest of the end-user experience. Here they are pulling something that arguably already works better in order to promote their own inferior technology. I hope the pundits give Google the lashing they deserve.

Peter Bonte

-4

01/12, 02:44am | report spam | close reply

i don't know

Nothing happened that a plugin can't solve, Google just doesn't want to support the format directly.

Gamicoulas

Joined: May 2002

01/12, 04:41am | report spam | close reply

Firefox has already done that!

Don't see what's the fuss. Firefox doesn't support H264 on HTML5 from day one. They were the first to say and do so. No codec is part of the HTML5 specification anyway. I'm expecting that it will be handled by third party plug-ins. Surely the user experience will be slightly worst, but then again it gives an opportunity to other browser makers like Opera and Safari to extend their market share...

01/12, 05:13am | report spam | close reply

On a second thought

I wonder if that's the first step before making the Youtube's HTML5 clips using WebM instead of H264. Google as we all know owns Youtube! H264 will be served through Flash and HTML5 will serve WebM. That leaves Apple to adopt WebM for the sake of all the iOS users out there...

tundaman

Joined: Mar 2010

01/12, 06:52am | report spam | (1 reply) close | reply

Misinformed

I think there's a lot of misinformation about MPEG. LA consortium plans for H.264:

http://www.dailytech.com/H264+Free+Internet+Video+Will+be+RoyaltyFree+Forever/article19465.htm

If you're making money with it, you should give a piece of the cake in return. That makes perfect sense to me.

lockhartt

Joined: Apr 2000

01/12, 10:10am | report spam | close reply

Companies pull chrome support

Many companies pull support for Google Chrome, having already standardized on H.264 for HTML5 video.

Google used to be the cool, innovative company that reminded you what could be done when you weren't a 500-ton brute just throwing its weight around like Microsoft... now they're just another 500-ton brute.

Sad...

MacOS

Joined: Aug 2002

01/12, 10:46am | report spam | close reply

This is nothing more than Google trying to impact iOS. Websites are dumping Flash in favor of HTML5 and Google see this as an opportunity to stick it to iOS.

panjandrum

Joined: Dec 2004

01/12, 03:33pm | report spam | close reply

This is great news!

This is wonderful news for me. Now I can eliminate Chrome as one of the browsers I bother to check for compatibility when I build websites.

01/12, 08:32pm | report spam | close reply

Just absurd

Reading comments of people who claim to be developers and yet don't understand what the article actually means. Here's a breakdown

1. Chrome will still play h.264 content via the quicktime plug-in. So the premature notion of just uninstalling just based off of this is silly. Google is only removing support for h.264 within its HTML5 framework. If it was in regards to their privacy policy, that would be a bit different.
2. HTML5 is not a standard and is currently a working draft. W3C has stated that it most likely won't be a standard until the year 2022. The whole idea of trying to claim h.264 is a standard within HTML5 is premature and misleading.
3.That being said, h.264 is not a web based video standard for HTML5, but a browser one(in this case being mainly Safari, Safari mobile, and IE in terms of the popular browsers).
4. Firefox does not support h.264 within the HTML5 framework and has no plans of doing so.
5. The top three browsers that are used the most are IE, Firefox, and Chrome. Only one of the 3 support h.264 within the HTML5 framework. So the notion of not doing browser compatibility for Chrome is again flawed.
6. The main reason flash was able to flourish as much/well as it has is that it is a one bullet multi-kill solution. You can build something in flash and generally it will perform and look the same within every browser. Until there is a browser standard, web standards won't really mean much. As for people complaining about crashes caused by flash, that's not due to flash itself(generally) but due to bad development by whoever authored the content and most likely by a designer who considers his/herself a developer but doesn't understand a simple concept as memory management or trash collection.
7. Somebody brought this up already but I will repeat it. Google has its hand in many pots and does own youtube. Which means once they have VP8 ready to go, they could flip the switch and all those enjoy viewing youtube from their apple mobile devices could be boned.

dimmer

Joined: Feb 2006

01/12, 11:17pm | report spam | (1 reply) close | reply

Wow, Google apologist much?

"the more popular format had an 'important role' but hoped it could force adoption of its open but internally-developed WebM format as well as Ogg Theora"

Key word here being "force". It's pretty clear why Google want to make this move: Android. WebM has as close to zero footprint as makes no difference, and was on the way to complete obscurity before this announcement. What does it do better than H.264? Nothing -- no hardware decomp, no extended reach in platforms, no (better if any) tools to deploy. And while it claims to be "Patent Free!" all this means is that Google has no patents on it, not that it doesn't infringe anyone else's patents.

Keep in mind, this is related to ChromeOS, not the Chrome browser. To date, ChromeOS is as vapor as vapor gets. Presumably Google will branch off their own version of WebKit to nix H.264 support and enjoy life in the HTML4 dustpan of history.

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Google pulls H.264 HTML5 support from Chrome

updated 05:20 pm EST, Tue January 11, 2011

Google yanks H264 in Chrome to force HTML5

Related Articles

Recent Articles

So much for not being evil...

comment title

Yet Flash

Workaround

Just deleted Chrome

Goodbye Chrome

Hmmm... That's a problem...

Booo!

No big surprise

Chrome had privacy issues before

Wouldn't the QuickTime plugin just take over?

Doesn't make sense...

Well, damn it

Why drop it?

comment title

I think the key here is HTML H.264

Can't trust Google

Right on chas_m

Well Chrome just became obsolete @ our company

That is Correct.

Puhlease

F Google. Back to Safari it is.

@ wrenchy

This is bull

Slowly turning into Microsoft

Interesting...

Evil

Well, they are...

i don't know

Firefox has already done that!

On a second thought

Misinformed

Companies pull chrome support

comment title

This is great news!

Just absurd

Wow, Google apologist much?

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