With the arrival of the iPad, the web has become even more readily available. However, Apple decided not to support Adobe Flash, a popular tool used to deliver dynamic content on the web, and rather pledged their support of HTML5 technology, which also has support for dynamic content, for the iPad. Most of the major companies on the web support HTML5, and they are all working to allow it to take over roles currently played only by Adobe Flash.
One common use of Flash is for embedding video onto web pages. Flash is used on almost all sites that stream video, including YouTube and Vimeo. HTML5 provides a framework to embed video, but the leading technology corporations are divided when it comes to the choosing the technology that fits into that framework.
This battle currently has three main contenders: H.264, Ogg Theora, and just recently joining the debate, WebM. H.264 is a proprietary but standardized codec supported by Apple. Ogg Theora is an open-source codec and is thus royalty-free, but lacks some technical capabilities. Before WebM was announced at the 2010 Google I/O conference, Mozilla, the company behind the Firefox web browser, was a staunch supporter of Theora, fighting against Apple.
According to the HTML5 specifications, the web needs “a codec that is known to not require per-unit or per-distributor licensing, that is compatible with the open source development model, that is of sufficient quality as to be usable, and that is not an additional submarine patent risk for large companies.”
Theora loses on the quality issue, while H.264 is closed-source, thus not “compatible with the open-source development model.”
Suddenly, Google solved this dilemma by releasing its WebM codec. This codec meets if not surpasses the quality standard set by H.264, while still remaining open-source. Already, it has gotten the support of dozens of hardware and software companies.
If WebM becomes standardized, the web can hope to see a lot of improvement. First, it solves the debate on the perfect codec for HTML5 video, and thus allows innovation to move forward with a secure foundation. Also, with a single codec standardized for HTML5, sites can safely implement HTML5 video without excluding anyone who happens to have a different codec. This brings web innovation to more people, both in the desktop and mobile fields.
Most importantly, a standardization of WebM would keep the web open. With an open-source video codec, anyone will be able to improve the web, and thus users on the web won’t be dependent on a single corporation for parts of the web that has become such a great part of the everyday life.