14 DAY TRIAL // Microsoft’s working to improve the Edge browser in Windows 10, and in addition to extension support, the company will also add new streaming format support in the upcoming Anniversary Update (also known as Redstone).
In a blog post detailing the changes coming in this regard in Edge browser, the Windows team reveals that Edge will allow web apps to use WebM streams containing VP9 and Opus.
VP9 is part of the WebM project developed by Google and is currently adopted by Chromium-based browsers, as well as Mozilla Firefox. It’s supposed to offer significant improvements in terms of battery life and performance, and this is exactly what Microsoft is aiming for with the upcoming Anniversary Update, which should make video streaming run more smoothly on all devices.
Already available in preview builds
Opus is currently the audio codec that’s most often used with VPN in WebM, and the combination of these technologies should lead to improved performance on content with resolution greater than 1080p.
“Our implementation of VP9 will support software decoding and, when supported by the device, hardware decoding via the DXVA interface,” Microsoft explains.
“Video decoding is computationally complex, so the best experience will be seen on computers that have VP9 hardware acceleration which is optimized for 4K decoding support, a feature which will start to become common on devices later this year. Software decoding can yield good performance, but will work best on more powerful desktop or laptop computers.”
Users who want to try out the new implementation can already do so by installing the latest Windows 10 preview build on their PCs. To manage settings of VP9 and Opus, you need to type about:flags in the address bar and search for Opus and VP9. By default, Opus is enabled, and VP9 is set to automatic, which means it’s being used if hardware acceleration is supported on your computer.
The Anniversary Update is due in the summer, and with these preview builds, Microsoft’s trying to find new ways to improve Edge browser and collect feedback from users trying out new technologies such as these streaming format support improvements. If everything goes according to plan, all users should get them when the next major Windows 10 update lands.