3 ms·

VP8 in a WebM container is pretty much the lowest bar for most browser support, and comes with no licensing requirements. I'm not disagreeing with the comment a

by Ayesh 6y ago

VP8 in a WebM container is pretty much the lowest bar for most browser support, and comes with no licensing requirements. I'm not disagreeing with the comment about "nightmarish mess". It indeed is one, specially when it comes user-uploaded content.

MrStonedOne 6y ago
I think they are talking about the webserver side requirements for streaming video so the browser will play it.
prox 6y ago
Isn’t it mp4? That is pretty universal and displays well in all platforms. Webm isn’t that ubiquitous in support.
- zozbot234 6y ago
  Most common MP4 formats are patent encumbered. I guess you could serve DivX;-) format and be in the clear as far as that goes?
- Ayesh 6y ago
  MPEG LA holids patents for mp2/mp4/hevc/h.264. I'm not sure what the licensing terms are, but they are not as liberal as VP8.
recrof 6y ago
unfortunately, mpeg4/h264 is still only common denominator for browser support, because of Apple Safari.
Silhouette 6y ago
VP8 in a WebM container is pretty much the lowest bar for most browser support, and comes with no licensing requirements. Unfortunately, even that isn't supported for general video use on Apple devices. It was also never properly supported on IE and support was only recently added to Edge. And that's for a standard that is over a decade old, which is now two codec generations behind the state of the art. Of course it still works to the extent that it's supported by the browsers, but it is quite poor in terms of efficiency and quality compared to the progress made with the later generations. If everyone could just hurry along with hardware and browser support for encoding and decoding AV1, that would be great. However, until I don't need to hire a server farm just to encode a cute little animation in all of the different formats I might need for different visitors, I suspect we'll see animated GIFs sticking around.

by Ayesh 6y ago

MrStonedOne 6y ago

I think they are talking about the webserver side requirements for streaming video so the browser will play it.

prox 6y ago

Isn’t it mp4? That is pretty universal and displays well in all platforms. Webm isn’t that ubiquitous in support.

zozbot234 6y ago
Most common MP4 formats are patent encumbered. I guess you could serve DivX;-) format and be in the clear as far as that goes?
Ayesh 6y ago
MPEG LA holids patents for mp2/mp4/hevc/h.264. I'm not sure what the licensing terms are, but they are not as liberal as VP8.

recrof 6y ago

unfortunately, mpeg4/h264 is still only common denominator for browser support, because of Apple Safari.

Silhouette 6y ago

VP8 in a WebM container is pretty much the lowest bar for most browser support, and comes with no licensing requirements. Unfortunately, even that isn't supported for general video use on Apple devices. It was also never properly supported on IE and support was only recently added to Edge. And that's for a standard that is over a decade old, which is now two codec generations behind the state of the art. Of course it still works to the extent that it's supported by the browsers, but it is quite poor in terms of efficiency and quality compared to the progress made with the later generations. If everyone could just hurry along with hardware and browser support for encoding and decoding AV1, that would be great. However, until I don't need to hire a server farm just to encode a cute little animation in all of the different formats I might need for different visitors, I suspect we'll see animated GIFs sticking around.