Tag Archives: freedom

Google Chrome dropping support for H.264, will support only open web codecs in the future

Posted by on January 11, 2011 No comments

In an understated announcement on the Chromium blog, going forward, Google Chrome will drop support for the encumbered H.264 video codec and will support only VP8 (through WebM) & Theora video natively.  This is great news for the open web, as it will further strengthen the stance of supports of free, open, and unencumbered formats — arguably the only way to preserve the spirit of the web as a public resource and a means of free information exchange.

The move is likely to rub some that do not attach importance to unencumbered formats the wrong way.  But it is important to point out that the patent blade hanging over the heads of the entire web, should H.264 video adoption become the only option for video formats, places an inordinate amount of control in the hands of the few corporate interests that hold these patents.  Such a situation is a looming problem that only a strong stance in support of free-as-in-freedom web formats can have any hope to avert.

Indeed, it is in the financial interests of the world at large, as well, to support such open formats, as outside of the MPEG-LA cabal, no one profits from the licensing that is or can be placed on any usage of the H.264 format.  So, it is unnecessary to point that this is in Google’s financial interests, because as that is true, so is it true for everyone else.

Finally, for those that wish to make the technical argument that H.264 is a superior format over the other optiones (e.g., VP8 or Theora), while superficially true, of what advantage are the technical superiorities of a format if your usage of it is restricted, as it happens to be with H.264.  (I would like to refer those new to this issue to read our related post on what, exactly, you can & cannot do with the H.264 format, according to MPEG-LA’s license terms: http://www.librevideo.org/blog/2010/06/14/mpeg-la-answers-some-questions-about-avch-264-licensing/).

So, once again, we welcome Google’s decision to use their clout to encourage a more open web, and we hope that content providers will recognize the wisdom behind this move, and we call upon them and everyone else to raise your voices in support of moves like this that enable user freedom, and not to hinder them.

As a final point, it is important that open codecs be supported on all hardware and software platforms.  If you are a user of such a platform that does not yet have support for an open format like WebM or has not yet announced intention to support it (it is still new, of course), then it is important to let your voice be heard and inform them the importance of using such technology.  It is a far lower cost, in the long run, to support a web format that does not carry with it a burdensome license, than it is to perpetuate an encumbered format for a small, short-term gain.

Update: Added a link to the actual announcement. *grin*

MPEG-LA answers some questions about AVC/H.264 licensing

Posted by on June 14, 2010 6 comments

The issues surrounding the nature of content created using the AVC/H.264 video specification, which includes the video produced by most camcorders, digital cameras, and cell phones in use today, have confused many people.  In fact, people on both sides of the issue have made contradictory claims and rarely, if ever, were such claims based on actual facts, but rather, either speculation or misunderstanding of the issues that come into play.

One notable mention that came-up during the heated debate of which codec should be used in the HTML5 <video> tag was Ben Schwartz‘s posting, No, you can’t do that with H.264. Ben avoided the mistakes committed by most by explicitly referencing the legal terms found in the documentation of professional products, including Final Cut Pro as well as Windows 7 Ultimate.

In the interest of clarifying the ambiguous claims regarding the licensing terms of using the AVC/H.264 video technology, Libre Video has taken the time over the past few weeks to contact the MPEG-LA directly, the licensing authority responsible for administering the patent pool for the H.264 specification.  We have asked them various questions related to what we feel are important issues surrounding the terms under which normal people are permitted to use hardware products that they have purchased and the resulting multimedia content created with them.  This communication happened via a series of e-mails over a little more than one week that we have compiled together here.  They graciously answered our queries to the extent that we can draw some concrete conclusions related to what users can and cannot do according to the licensing terms they are generally granted.

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Libre Video launches!

Posted by on May 15, 2010 2 comments

Welcome to Libre Video, an online community for those interested in advancing freedom-friendly technologies in the areas of video creation, production, & distribution.

We are an open community and we welcome you to join us if you care about a world where someone can use their video equipment without the need to worry about licensing fees or conditions on the distribution of content that you have created.

So, welcome, and we look forward to a future of freedom!

UPDATE: We’d like to welcome all visitors coming from Reddit and elsewhere!  Someone graciously added a link to our site, but we haven’t actually announced it yet, as the content isn’t where we want it to be yet for public consumption, so we apologize for the dearth of information.  More information about the state of Libre Video will be added, including solutions, freedom-friendly hardware, news, and more as we get to it.  Meanwhile, you’re welcome to subscribe, comment, or join us at our informal online location of #theora on irc.freenode.net (until we get our own channel somewhere).  Thanks!