Another Follow-up on HTML5 Video in IE9

May 24, 2010

In previous posts, we described why IE9 will support H.264-encoded HTML5 video. Microsoft and other browser providers see hardware support, customer and partner readiness, and intellectual property rights as key factors making H.264 an excellent choice for video encoding and playback. These posts generated a significant amount of support and suggestions. This feedback together with today&rsquos industry announcements create a good opportunity to follow up and provide more information about HTML5 video support in IE9.

In its HTML5 support, IE9 will support playback of H.264 video as well as VP8 video when the user has installed a VP8 codec on Windows.

As we said at MIX recently, when it comes to HTML5, we&rsquore all in. This level of commitment applies to the video codecs that IE9 will support as well. We are strongly committed to making sure that in IE9 you can safely view all types of content in all widely used formats. At the same time, Windows customers, developers, and site owners also want assurances that they are protected from IP rights issues when using IE9.

We have technical specifics to work through. We want to be clear about our intent to support the same markup in the open and interoperable web, and to do so in a manner consistent with our view of safety and security.

In the meantime, in choosing a video codec, customers and partners have many issues to consider.

Today, hardware support is widely available for H.264 both on PCs and phones. (You can read about the benefits of hardware acceleration here, or see an example of the benefits at the 26:35 mark here.) Codecs have been a source of security and reliability issues (link1, link2, link3, link4) for some users. New code often faces security issues the H.264 codec in Windows 7 has been in broad use for some time now. Sites also need to think about the issues in supporting multiple formats.

As this article points out, the issue of potential patent liability is &ldquoultimately for the courts to decide.&rdquo Some web groups have cited concerns about patent issues with similar codecs and the costs that may be associated with shipping codecs not covered by patent licenses. At the same time, there&rsquos been community discussion about the lack of H.264 support in some browsers, for example here (via a comment on the IE blog).

Again, we want to be clear about our intent to support the same markup in the open and interoperable web. We are strongly committed to making sure that in IE9 you can safely view all types of content in all widely used formats. When it comes to video and HTML5, we&rsquore all in. In its HTML5 support, IE9 will support playback of H.264 video as well as VP8 video when the user has installed a VP8 codec on Windows.

Thanks,

Dean Hachamovitch

General Manager, Internet Explorer

Note: as we said in our prior post, comments are not available on the IE blog this week due to a system upgrade. We always want your thoughts and feedback, so we cross-published this post on the Windows blog. If you want to comment on this post, click here.