HTML 5 is Unsettled

If you are like me and listened to too much Google I/O, you might think that HTML is defined and waiting for browsers to implement it. After all, Firefox, Safari, and Chrome all claim to support it. As it turns out, there is still a sizable debate over which codecs to require by default. Ars discusses it in detail here.

The HTML 5 video element has the potential to liberate streaming Internet video from plugin prison, but a debate over which codec to define in the standard is threatening to derail the effort. Ars takes a close look at the HTML 5 codec controversy and examines the relative strengths and weaknesses of H.264 and Ogg Theora.

Internet video is living in a world of defacto standards. So, this is a relatively important decision. Sun, with JavaFX, even went out and licensed On2 codecs so they could play flash formatted video files. From a technical perspective, it appears that H.264 has a sizable advantage. However, it is about go through a licensing change. It is a big enough change that it has the potential to force the giants to move. Ogg is good. In fact, for me, it is indistinguishable. However, it is reasonable to assume that it will struggle to move forward without running into patent walls. It, at least in theory, should lag behind the innovation somewhat.

Still, you have to establish a baseline. It seems like ogg is the only choice. Without the baseline, everyone will stay on flash. With it, they will move to the new format (which according to google would use an unsupportable amount of bandwidth). Hmmm, choices choices. I have another idea. Why don’t the collective of companies that are in favor of H.264 buy out it’s license holder. They could donate it to the world, achieve the standardization that they are after, and provide a baseline on which a new medium can be developed. Google is tight with Obama, maybe they can get stimulus money to do it.

Update: Jan Ozer has a really good breakdown of the licensing for H.264. It doesn’t look good for H.264 from the terms outlined. That’s a risk of a huge amount of cash.