At their developer event Google IO, Google took the opportunity to announce WebM, a new project for pushing a video codec for HTML 5 that everyone can agree on.
I’ve been a long-time supporter of HTML 5, and have been getting excited about its prospects for some time. However, the announcement of this codec makes me even more excited than before.
Finally, we have a codec that all of the major browser vendors will be supporting for HTML 5. Finally, developers need not dream of a utopia where they only need encode their video once, and have it work on all major browsers – with HTML 5 and WebM together, we can now have that dream as new builds of the browsers are released.
Yesterday, when WebM was announced, it launched with the support of Google, Mozilla and Opera. Last night, Microsoft announced that IE 9 will support the codec if it is already installed on the user’s machine.
I’ll be looking out for more on WebM in the coming weeks and months. However for now, satiate your need for information with this other coverage on the web:
- Mashable post about the launch
- WebMonkey discusses the project
- Engadget talk about the relationship with VP8
- CNet cover the release
- TheNextWeb confirms Microsoft support in IE 9
- ArsTechnica on the battle with h.264
- Mashable talks about vendor and browser support