Google Removes H.264 Codec from Chrome

By | January 12, 2011 | 9 Comments

Google Removes H.264 Codec from ChromeIt looks like the search giant will soon remove a H.264 video codec from the upcoming Google Chrome web browser release.

“Though H.264 plays an important role in video, as our goal is to enable open innovation, support for the codec will be removed and our resources directed towards completely open codec technologies,” said Mike Jazayeri, the product manager at Google Inc.

According to the blog post, changes will occur in the next couple months and this is just a notification encouraging content publishers and developers to make necessary changes.


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Vygantas is a former web designer whose projects are used by companies such as AMD, NVIDIA and departed Westood Studios. Being passionate about software, Vygantas began his journalism carrier back in 2007 when he founded FavBrowser.com. Having said that, he is also an adrenaline junkie who enjoys good books, fitness activities and Forex trading.

  • Geek

    So my prophecy that Chrome will put much more support to WebM (VP8) is fullfiling. Next move – WebM (VP8) only Youtube??

    • Anon6

      +1

    • ben

      Probably. But it will take years. :)

  • http://my.opera.com/d4rkn1ght d4rkn1ght

    I think this is a good move for Google. It will be great if Microsoft and Apple will join the WebM project.

  • bonch

    If their goal is open innovation, why are they shipping Flash with Chrome? Silly.

    • Geek

      Flash is not only about video like H.264. Flash is about rich media content. HTML5 with Canvas and etc., still cant be true competitor to Flash..

    • nvm

      Flash is a plugin. Html5 video is different, because it’s built into the browser itself.

  • Blue

    Because most everyone has it already and one less addin to download.

    • mabdul

      ? What do you mean? The article/blog post is about that future Chrome versions won’t support h264 any more. Webm and H264 video codecs were built in before, but now only webm is supported by google. Nobody had every to download anything except the browser

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