Firefox Users Left Out of YouTube HTML 5 Beta

Recently, YouTube has released a HTML 5 beta of their popular video sharing web site. The HTML 5 standard will allow the use of audio or video without the use of plug-ins. For example one could play a video without the need for Adobe Flash or Microsoft Silverlight. Mozilla Firefox has supported the HTML 5 video tag since the 3.5 release, and currently supports it in the newer version. This allows Mozilla Firefox to play videos without the need of any plug-ins as long as the HTML 5 video tag is used. You can see an example of this in action with Firefox here.

Firefox currently uses the Theora Format to encode and play videos in HTML 5. Theora is licensed under a BSD style license and is free for commercial and non-commercial usage. This style is compatible with Mozilla’s goals of an open and free internet experience.

When I heard YouTube had an HTML 5 beta I thought “Great lets go try this out! Maybe I can ditch the disgusting Flash plug-in! However, when I attempted to play a video on the HTML 5 beta site on YouTube, I was greeted with the screenshot above. I thought “This can’t be right what gives!? Firefox supports HTML 5 video tag!” I forgot to read the fine print. When looking at the YouTube HTML 5 beta page, it states the following:

Supported Browsers

Right now we support browsers that support both the video tag in HTML5 and the h.264 video codec. These include:

Google Chrome

Apple Safari (version 4+)

Microsoft Internet Explorer with Google Chrome Frame installed (Get Google Chrome Frame)

So I have come to find out that a browser must support the h.264 codec in order for the HTML 5 video to work in the Youtube HTML 5 Beta. That’s grand because Firefox does not support or ship with the H.264 codec, and probably never will. The h.264 codec is proprietary format that has licensing restrictions. Even though MPEG-LA has said they will not charge users to use h.264 during the current term that expires on December of 2015, there is no guarantee that it won’t in the future.

I am not so sure Firefox will or would ship a proprietary codec with its web browser that would put it at the mercy of restrictive licensing restrictions that does not fall under the Open Source realm that Firefox advocates. “But it’s like five more years of free to lock you in 4ever,” claimed Mozilla CEO John Lilly.”

So why did Google/YouTube choose to use h.264 over the restriction free Theora?

On2 technologies released the Theora code into the public domain a few years back, and Google has recently acquired On2 technologies. Will Google release the Codecs from On2 Technologies as open source? That is the question that remains to be seen, and is very important considering YouTube, HTML 5, and Firefox’s relation to this mess in the near future as HTML 5 becomes standard.

The use of the h.264 codec actually alienates Linux users because most distros don’t ship with this codec by default, and there are restrictions regarding its distribution that makes it unlikely any Linux distro would ship with it for free.

As it stands right now, Firefox users seem to be left out of the YouTube HTML 5 video beta due to the choice of the patent encumbered h.264 codec by YouTube. Are we moving from one closed format(Adobe FlashFlash) to another (H.264)? I would hope not. I thought HTML 5 was to free us from such restrictions.

We will have to keep a close eye on the On2 Technologies buy, and see(hope/cross our fingers) that Google releases those formats as Open Source so users will not be at the mercy of using a proprietary codec when watching youTube videos under the HTML 5 standard in the future.

“Do No Evil”

Google were counting on you, Please don’t leave us Firefox users out in the cold…

Comments Welcome!