Apple Wary of Ogg Theora: No Agreement Yet on HTML5 Video Standard
Firefox 3.5 and Chrome already support the new video tag of the HTML5 specification. Before it can become a standard, though, more browsers makers have to agree on the codec.
The major browser vendors are having trouble agreeing on an enconding format for the new HTML<video> tag. As Ian Hickson explains in the whatwg.org mailing list, he removed the two subsections in the HTML5 spec regarding video and audio due to this nonagreement. Hickson summarizes the current situation as follows:
- Apple refuses to implement Ogg Theora in QuickTime by default in Safari, complaining of lack of hardware support and patent issues.
- Google implemented H.264 and Ogg Theora in Chrome, but can't hand off the H.264 codec license to third-party Chromium distributors from the "belief that Ogg Theora's quality-per-bit is not yet suitable for the volume handled by YouTube."
- Opera refuses to implement H.264 because of the high patent license costs.
- Mozilla is going the same route due to the costs to downstream distributors.
- Microsoft has not as yet commented on the issue.
Microsoft's noncommitment may end up making Ogg Theora the favorite for the upcoming HTML5 standard. Meanwhile, while Apple alleges having no patent claims on Ogg Theora, it fears that it may be filed against if it included the codec in QuickTime, according to an article in InfoWorld.com.
Comments
comments powered by Disqus
Issue 268/2023
Buy this issue as a PDF
Subscribe to our Linux Newsletters
Find Linux and Open Source Jobs
Subscribe to our ADMIN Newsletters
Find SysAdmin Jobs
News
-
KDE Plasma 5.27 Beta is Ready for Testing
The latest beta iteration of the KDE Plasma desktop is now available and includes some important additions and fixes.
-
Netrunner OS 23 Is Now Available
The latest version of this Linux distribution is now based on Debian Bullseye and is ready for installation and finally hits the KDE 5.20 branch of the desktop.
-
New Linux Distribution Built for Gamers
With a Gnome desktop that offers different layouts and a custom kernel, PikaOS is a great option for gamers of all types.
-
System76 Beefs Up Popular Pangolin Laptop
The darling of open-source-powered laptops and desktops will soon drop a new AMD Ryzen 7-powered version of their popular Pangolin laptop.
-
Nobara Project Is a Modified Version of Fedora with User-Friendly Fixes
If you're looking for a version of Fedora that includes third-party and proprietary packages, look no further than the Nobara Project.
-
Gnome 44 Now Has a Release Date
Gnome 44 will be officially released on March 22, 2023.
-
Nitrux 2.6 Available with Kernel 6.1 and a Major Change
The developers of Nitrux have officially released version 2.6 of their Linux distribution with plenty of new features to excite users.
-
Vanilla OS Initial Release Is Now Available
A stock GNOME experience with on-demand immutability finally sees its first production release.
-
Critical Linux Vulnerability Found to Impact SMB Servers
A Linux vulnerability with a CVSS score of 10 has been found to affect SMB servers and can lead to remote code execution.
-
Linux Mint 21.1 Now Available with Plenty of Look and Feel Changes
Vera has arrived and although it is still using kernel 5.15, there are plenty of improvements sure to please everyone.
XiphQT solves that problem
<a href="http://www.xiph.org/quicktime">XiphQT</a> is legally free from Xiph and adds support for Ogg/Theora/Vorbis(Speex/Flac...) to Quicktime - encoding as well as decoding, and that includes HTML5 <video> and <audio> tags, allowing Apple users to participate with the rest of us.
I'd add here (as I seem to be compelled to do everywhere this comes up) that there <em>IS</em> also a <audio> tag to go with <video>. Sure, it's not unreasonable to argue that Theora isn't quite as pretty as patent-encumbered "de-facto" video standard of H.264, the "de-facto" standard for audio right now is MP3, and Vorbis <em>IS</em> a genuine quality improvement over it.
Also, It's a heck of a lot easier for participants on the net to produce their own audio than to produce video. While news stories are busy focussing on HTML5 as "internet TV" because of the <video> tag, I'm hoping for a wealth of peer-produced audio content to start showing up.