14 DAY TRIAL // A new development release of the next version of Firefox is now available for download for early adopters, tailored to the new WebM open web media project. Essentially, the latest Firefox 3.7 Alpha 4 Build is designed to bring to the table support for the HTML5 VP8 video codec, the Vorbis audio codec and the Matroska- based media container that are all included into WebM. Along with Opera and Google, Mozilla is, after all, one of the main supporters of the WebM project, an initiative aimed to deliver an open and free video format for the web to be used with HTML5. Even Microsoft indicated its support for WebM, with IE General Manager Dean Hachamovitch revealing that Internet Explorer 9 will support VP8, albeit only through a codec installed in Windows.
“Until today, Theora was the only production-quality codec that was usable under terms appropriate for the open web. Now we can add another, in the form of VP8: providing better bandwidth efficiency than H.264, and designed to take advantage of hardware from mobile devices to powerful multicore desktop machines, it is a tremendous technology to have on the side of the open web. VP8 and WebM promise not only to commoditize state-of-the-art video quality, but also to form the basis of further advances in video for the web,” Mike Shaver, director of Ecosystem Development at Mozilla, commented.
Even at this point in time there continues to be a lack of consensus over a single video codec for HTML5. While Internet Explorer 9 will support H.264 by default, Firefox and Opera come with Ogg Theora, and Chrome supports both. As far as WebM is concerned, all major players with the exception of Apple seem to have found common ground. Rallying behind WebM, Microsoft, Opera, Google and Mozilla revealed that future versions of IE, Opera, Chrome and Firefox would play nice with VP8 as an HTML video codec.
“It is a great time to be a web developer, and there has never been a better time to be a supporter of open video on the web. Mozilla is very excited to be part of the WebM project, and to join with an impressive list of industry partners in advancing unencumbered, high-performance multimedia on the web. And, of course, we’re working to get this capability into the hands of 400M Firefox users on desktops and mobile devices alike,” Shaver added.
Despite the fact that WebM support was delivered with a Firefox 3.7 Alpha release, users of Mozilla’s open source browser will most likely see support for this technology with Firefox 4.0, a release that is planned for availability by the end of 2010.
The new WebM-ready Firefox 3.7 Alpha 4 is available for download here.
Chromium 6.0.412.0 is available for download here.
Opera 10.54 Build 21868 Beta with HTML5 WebM VP8 video support is available for download here.
Internet Explorer 9 (IE9) Platform Preview 2 Build 1.9.7766.6000 is available for download here.
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