H264ify: if you need to watch YouTube videos on an old laptop. H.264 codec, Flash technology, HTML5 and WebRTC Browsers supporting eme h 264

Today, the H.264 codec is one of the most popular codecs used for streaming data on the Internet.

Codec H.264

The H.264 codec is a video compression standard that was developed by several organizations, so it is also called AVC (Advanced Video Coding) and MPEG-4 part 10. Let's look at some features of H.264 encoding and decoding.

The main advantages of compression using H.264:

• High quality compression.
• Small amount of video files.

Flaws:

• Demanding on the power of the encoder.
• Demanding on the power of the playback device.

If the playback device, such as a computer, has a weak processor, video playback will stutter or stop.

Flash player and codecH.264

Adobe Flash player, today is widely used on the Internet for:

• Play video. For example, the popular YouTube service uses both a Flash player and an HTML5 video player. Flash player supports playing video encoded using H.264 since 2007, since player version 9.0.115.
• Video encoding. For example, when in a video chat we capture an image from a webcam, a Flash player, or rather a plug-in for the Adobe Flash Plugin browser, encodes the multimedia stream in real time and sends it to .

Camera capture window using Flash

The Adobe Flash Plugin of the browser usually used and still uses the VP6 video codec, which, compared to H.264, is less demanding on resources, but is much inferior in compression quality. Relatively recently, it became possible to use the H.264 codec. Flash Player 11, released in 2011, began to support real-time video encoding using the H.264 codec.

It turns out that it becomes possible to capture an image from a camera in an Internet browser and encode it on the fly with an advanced H.264 codec. For example, the free webinar system BigBlueButton supports client-side video capture and encoding in H.264. Let me also remind you that the video encoder supports two video codecs: VP6 and H.264.

HTML5 or Flash

It is slowly starting to replace Flash. Such applications as will be translated to HTML5, work is already underway. The development of WebRTC and HTML5 will allow access to the user’s webcam and microphone without the need to use additional plugins for the Internet browser.

(English) real-time communications- real-time communications) - open source project source code, designed to organize the transfer of streaming data between browsers or other applications that support it using point-to-point technology.

BigBlueButton and HTML5

For example, in the development plans for the client application of the BigBlueButton web project, it is proposed to do the following:

• Viewing a BigBlueButton session using HTML5 (viewing a presentation, streaming audio/video, two-way chat).
• Broadcast audio/video using HTML5 and WebRTC.
• Support for all BigBlueButton presentation tools in HTML5.

Before understanding the meaning of this decision, it must be said that the interpretation of this event on the Internet is not always based on complete information. To correctly evaluate Google’s actions, you need to take a lot into account:

1. Chrome is not the first or only popular browser that will not support H.264: it was first disabled in Mozilla Firefox, besides it, Opera also does not want to support this codec.

2. H.264 video on the Web today is viewed using plugins such as Flash and Silverlight. Support for these plugins will continue in Chrome.

3. There is currently no convention that defines a standard base video codec in HTML 5 for the "video" tag. This will force all developers and publishers using the "video" tag to support many different formats.

4. The H.264 codec is proprietary and you have to pay for it, although MPEG LA extended the free period until the end of 2015 and pledged not to charge for non-commercial content.

5. For the H.264 format, there is a free alternative called WebM from the same Google. This format has support from the creators Firefox browsers and Opera.

6. WebM does not have any particular technological advantages over H.264. To ensure high-quality video playback high resolution in this format, it is important for the user to have hardware support for this codec on his computer (this is implemented for H.264). There is no such hardware support for WebM yet.

7. Google is not taking any action to approve its own WebM format as an open standard in organizations such as ISO, ITU and SMPTE. Despite the fact that an independent community of developers is forming around WebM, the development of the codec remains under the complete control of Google. This leads to an absurd situation: the freely licensed WebM codec is actually less open than H.264.

The official reason for not supporting this codec as a base codec for the “video” tag is stated as follows: “A key factor in the rapid evolution and ubiquity of technology is a development model based on openness and community management. The WebM project, launched last year, was designed to bring a world-class open video codec to the web. Over the next year, we expect even more rapid innovation in the web media platform, and will focus our investments on those technologies that are developed and licensed based on the principles of the free web. Right now we're improving HTML5 video tag support for Chrome, integrating it more tightly with codecs already supported by the open-source Chromium project. We now support WebM(VP8) and Theora video codecs, and are thinking about adding other high-quality open codecs in the future. Because H.264 plays an important role in video and our goal is to enable open innovation, support for this codec will be discontinued and our resources will be redirected to completely open technologies.” There are several versions of this decision.

Actually the version fromGoogle

Firefox and Opera support the open codecs WebM and Ogg Theora and will not support H.264 due to the latter's licensing requirements; Safari and Internet Explorer 9 support H.264. Google wants to see a viable base codec that all browsers will support. So far, the development of web video has stalled. The absence of any underlying codec in the HTML specifications will force all developers and publishers using the "video" tag to support numerous different formats.

The company believes that the H.264 codec will not be accepted as a base codec for use in the "video" tag due to its licensing requirements: browser and OS developers, hardware manufacturers, and content providers who charge for content will have to pay substantial licensing fees and there can be no assurance that these fees will not increase in the future. This seriously increases the barrier to entry into the market for future startups whose activities will be related to video content, and licensing fees will slow down innovation.

Google states that it does not intend to impose any material claims or otherwise control the WebM format. The company was faced with a choice: either it would immediately invest in open technology to advance the HTML5 platform, or it would accept the status quo, maintaining a fragmented platform where innovation could be limited by the interests of those receiving royalties. And the company has decided to bet on the open Web, and it is confident that this decision will stimulate innovation that benefits both users and industry.

Religious wars (holivars)

The essence of this version is simple: Google wants to “push” its still free, but little-known and currently limited-use format, and then start charging money for its use. By refusing to support H.264 in its browser, the company can push the owners of video portals to ensure that their videos are encoded in two formats: H.264 and WebM. But the cost of such an operation will be very high, and the benefits are doubtful. It is unlikely that it will be possible to view video via Google Chrome worth spending millions of dollars. Some developers and video editors have already announced that they will stop supporting Chrome because they don't want to support multiple different codecs.

Material reasons

They do not mean royalties for the use of the H.264 codec from MPEG LA (manager of the patent package) - Google can pay them. The problem is different: supporting all video formats on YouTube requires serious infrastructure, which costs a lot of money. The fewer formats that need to be supported, the lower the costs for data centers and storage. In YouTube's case, we're talking exabytes of data and billions of dollars in SAN hardware and other capital costs.

In light of the above, it seems that Google's intentions are expressed quite honestly, and it really is taking risks in trying to develop open formats.

In order for you to be able to comfortably view videos in Mozilla Firefox, of this browser All necessary plugins that are responsible for displaying online videos must be installed. Read the article about what plugins you will need to install to watch videos comfortably.

Plugins are special components built into the Mozilla Firefox browser that allow you to correctly display certain content on different sites. In particular, in order to be able to play video in the browser, Mozilla Firefox must have all the necessary plugins installed.

Adobe Flash Payer

It would be strange if we didn't start with the most popular video viewing plugin in Firefox, aimed at playing Flash content.

For quite some time now, Mozilla developers have been planning to abandon Flash support Player, but this has not happened yet - this plugin must be installed in the browser if, of course, you want to play all the videos on the Internet.

VLC Web Plugin

You've probably heard of, or even used, such a popular media player as VLC Media Player. This player successfully allows you to play not only great amount audio and video formats, but also play streaming video, for example, watching your favorite TV shows online.

In turn, the VLC Web Plugin is required for playback via Mozilla Firefox streaming video. For example, have you decided to watch TV online? Then, most likely, VLC Web Plugin must be installed in the browser. You can install this plugin in Mozilla Firefox along with VLC Media Player. We have already talked about this in more detail on the website.

QuickTime

The QuickTime plugin, as in the case of VLC, can be obtained by installing the media player of the same name on your computer.

This plugin is not needed very often, but you can still find videos on the Internet that require Mozilla to be installed in order to play them. Firefox plugin QuickTime.

OpenH264

The vast majority of streaming videos use the H.264 codec for playback, but due to licensing issues, Mozilla, together with Cisco, implemented the OpenH264 plugin, which allows you to play streaming video in Mozilla Firefox.

This plugin is usually included in Mozilla Firefox by default, and you can find it by clicking on the browser menu button, opening the section "Extras" and then go to the tab "Plugins" .

If you don't find it on the list installed plugins OpenH264, then you should probably update Mozilla browser Firefox up to the latest version.

/MPEG-4 Part 10 or AVC (Advanced Video Coding) is a standard for video compression. As its name indicates, H.264 is certainly an advanced video format in a variety of ways comparing with MPEG-2. With half even quarter of Bit-rate usage, H.264 delivers both High-def quality and small file size.

Therefore you can hear of that H.264 is using in such applications as players for Blu-ray discs, videos from YouTube and the iTunes Store, web software such as the Adobe Flash Player and Microsoft Silverlight. So do you want to make your Windows PC or Mac fully support with H.264 video? Then you need to download H.264 Codec Pack to ensure computer can recognize H.264 flawlessly.

All-in-one H.264 Encoder and Decoder

WinX HD Video Converter Deluxe - encode and decode H.264 in a breeze. Encode HEVC, AVI, WMV, M2TS, MPEG-2, FLV, WebM etc, to H.264.
Decode H.264 to HEVC, AVI, WMV, M2TS, MPEG-2, FLV, WebM etc.
Greatly speed up H.264 transcoding with full hardware acceleration.

Brief Introduction About H.264 Codec

Before downloading your H.264 codec, it is worth paying time on why H.264 rules. H.264 is getting so much attention because it can encode video with approximately 3 times fewer bits than comparable MPEG-2 encoders. This opens new possibilities.

Because H.264 is up to twice as efficient as MPEG-4 Part 2 (natural video) encoding, it has recently been welcomed into the MPEG-4 standard as Part 10 - Advanced Video Coding. Many established encoder and decoder vendors are moving directly to H.264 and skipping the intermediate step of MPEG-4 Part 2.

H.264 Codec Pack Free Download

In Doom9 forum you will find a long-winded list which offers free H.264 codec download. Here is some one we picked up, tested around and then give it to you.

DivX Plus HD represents a carefully selected balance of features developed in collaboration with our manufacturing partners.

It enables both strong compression and interoperability across a huge range of device categories including DVD players, Blu-ray players (need ?), digital TVs, set-top boxes and more.

QuickTime 7 features a state-of-the-art video codec called H.264, which delivers stunning quality at remarkably low data rates.

Ratified as part of the MPEG-4 standard (MPEG-4 Part 10), this ultra-efficient technology gives you excellent results across a broad range of bandwidths, from 3G for mobile devices to iChat AV for video conferencing to HD for broadcast and DVD .

MainConcept AVC/H.264 Codec Pack offers fast encoding and decoding speeds in all profiles and levels supported by the standard.

It encodes and decodes H.264/AVC video, making it easy to add support for this exciting new format to existing applications. The encoder also includes pre-configured templates for Blu-ray, Sony PSP, Apple iPod, AVCHD, Adobe Flash, Silverlight and other standards. The Broadcast version of the Codec Package even offers AVC-Intra Class 50 and Class 100 support.

For DivX Software (or ). Enable the conversion and playback of DivX video with DTS-HD audio, including HEVC video content up to 4K. The DTS-HD Plug-in allows you to convert and play videos with DTS audio tracks for studio-quality sound. Whether enjoying entertainment at home or on the go, DTS aims to provide the finest audio experience possible no matter what device you are using.

• Convert your videos with multi-channel audio tracks into the DTS format
• Play videos with DTS sound tracks in DivX Player for an even more cinematic experience
• Play your videos anytime, anywhere on your DivX devices with DTS audio support

The DTS-HD Plug-in for DivX Software includes DTS-HD Master Audio™, which decodes all DTS codecs including DTS Digital Surround™, DTS Express™, and DTS Coreless lossless streams, with the DTS decoder. Depending on the DTS codec used to create the audio in your file, DTS may allow up to 7.1 discrete channels and a data savings that makes encoding faster with better quality.

For DTS patents, seehttp://patents.dts.com . Manufactured under license from DTS Licensing Limited. DTS, DTS-HD, the Symbol, & DTS or DTS-HD and the Symbol together are registered trademarks and DTS-HD Master Audio is a trademark of DTS, Inc. © DTS, Inc. All Rights Reserved.