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Firefox only supports H.264 on Win7 and above because MS provided a plugin for the MS-provided codec. I don't believe that OSX or Linux provide it, which is wh

by cube13 14y ago

Firefox only supports H.264 on Win7 and above because MS provided a plugin for the MS-provided codec. I don't believe that OSX or Linux provide it, which is why Firefox does not support it natively. Hopefully this means that they've finally worked out an agreement for licensing, and can support it.

protomyth 14y ago
OS X has H.264 available to all developers without additional licensing fees. Why would Firefox need to have a separate licensing agreement?
0x006A 14y ago
You know, instead of writing things without checking you could have looked this up: i.e. via the tracking bug in bugzilla: Support H.264/AAC/MP3 video/audio playback on desktop Firefox (https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=799318 https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=799318) On Linux Firefox will use GStreamer, the same backend also used in Firefox OS, its not enabled in the nightly builds since not all distros have the right version of GStreamer and it ca not be loaded dynamically right now (https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=794282 https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=794282) For OS X the plan seams to be to use AV Foundations but no patch has been submitted so far. (https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=801521 https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=801521)
- cube13 14y ago
  None of those bugs are resolved, so where was I wrong? In fact, there's this bug for H.264 support: https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=541286 https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=541286 It was raised in January, and it's status is: "RESOLVED WONTFIX" The stable Firefox build, as of today(12/19/2012) does not support those codecs.
  - doublec 14y ago
    We are implementing support on desktop using OS frameworks where we can. So far we have: - support for Linux via GStreamer landed but not built by default. It needs a bit more work. - support for Windows 7 and above which the OP post is about - Mac OS X is not yet underway but is planned. - Hardware H.264 decoding on Android phones via libstagefright. Some phones supported and enabled by default. Some supported but disabled at the moment. Some unsupported. - Hardware H.264 decoding on Firefox OS/B2G enabled by default, implemented via libstagefright. Phone vendors provide the binary blobs to do the decoding.
    - 0x006A 14y ago
      will you enable H.264 support only on desktops once you have working backends for Windows/Linux/OS X or will they be enabled by default as they are working? Just wondering if there will be stable releases of Firefox where some platforms have H.264 decodes and some don't.
      - doublec 14y ago
        They will be enabled by default as they are working. We already have the issue of some platforms having it and others not. Some Android devices have it with Firefox for Android and some don't for example. Linux distro's could enable the GStreamer backend and gain it while others don't as another. For detection sites should use the API "canPlayType" and similar functionality to detect if the browser supports playback.
- doublec 14y ago
  GStreamer isn't used on Firefox OS. We use libstagefright and vendor supplied binaries for decoding.
duaneb 14y ago
It was a pretty big deal a while ago that quicktime support H.264; off hand, I'm pretty sure they supported it for years before MS did. If firefox supports quicktime, they support H.264. EDIT: Well, I'll eat my hat. I'm not sure why Firefox needs a different licensing agreement on OSX when they COULD just hook into quicktime without any licensing fees at all. I'm probably grossly misunderstanding the situation. EDIT2: Ok, so I guess AVFoundation is just the objective-c frontend for OSX's media libs. I can't for the life of me understand why it took them so long to implement.
- tedmielczarek 14y ago
  a) We decided not to support h.264 for non-technical reasons (patent-encumbrance etc) for quite some time. b) We don't have infinite developer resources, so it just hasn't gotten done since then.

by cube13 14y ago

protomyth 14y ago

OS X has H.264 available to all developers without additional licensing fees. Why would Firefox need to have a separate licensing agreement?

0x006A 14y ago

You know, instead of writing things without checking you could have looked this up: i.e. via the tracking bug in bugzilla: Support H.264/AAC/MP3 video/audio playback on desktop Firefox (https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=799318 https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=799318) On Linux Firefox will use GStreamer, the same backend also used in Firefox OS, its not enabled in the nightly builds since not all distros have the right version of GStreamer and it ca not be loaded dynamically right now (https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=794282 https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=794282) For OS X the plan seams to be to use AV Foundations but no patch has been submitted so far. (https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=801521 https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=801521)

cube13 14y ago
None of those bugs are resolved, so where was I wrong? In fact, there's this bug for H.264 support: https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=541286 https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=541286 It was raised in January, and it's status is: "RESOLVED WONTFIX" The stable Firefox build, as of today(12/19/2012) does not support those codecs.
- doublec 14y ago
  We are implementing support on desktop using OS frameworks where we can. So far we have: - support for Linux via GStreamer landed but not built by default. It needs a bit more work. - support for Windows 7 and above which the OP post is about - Mac OS X is not yet underway but is planned. - Hardware H.264 decoding on Android phones via libstagefright. Some phones supported and enabled by default. Some supported but disabled at the moment. Some unsupported. - Hardware H.264 decoding on Firefox OS/B2G enabled by default, implemented via libstagefright. Phone vendors provide the binary blobs to do the decoding.
  - 0x006A 14y ago
    will you enable H.264 support only on desktops once you have working backends for Windows/Linux/OS X or will they be enabled by default as they are working? Just wondering if there will be stable releases of Firefox where some platforms have H.264 decodes and some don't.
    - doublec 14y ago
      They will be enabled by default as they are working. We already have the issue of some platforms having it and others not. Some Android devices have it with Firefox for Android and some don't for example. Linux distro's could enable the GStreamer backend and gain it while others don't as another. For detection sites should use the API "canPlayType" and similar functionality to detect if the browser supports playback.
doublec 14y ago
GStreamer isn't used on Firefox OS. We use libstagefright and vendor supplied binaries for decoding.

duaneb 14y ago

It was a pretty big deal a while ago that quicktime support H.264; off hand, I'm pretty sure they supported it for years before MS did. If firefox supports quicktime, they support H.264. EDIT: Well, I'll eat my hat. I'm not sure why Firefox needs a different licensing agreement on OSX when they COULD just hook into quicktime without any licensing fees at all. I'm probably grossly misunderstanding the situation. EDIT2: Ok, so I guess AVFoundation is just the objective-c frontend for OSX's media libs. I can't for the life of me understand why it took them so long to implement.

tedmielczarek 14y ago
a) We decided not to support h.264 for non-technical reasons (patent-encumbrance etc) for quite some time. b) We don't have infinite developer resources, so it just hasn't gotten done since then.