WebM: HTML video format

Initially, WebM consists of a container derived from Matroska and the VP8 video codec developed by On2 and acquired by Google. Which subsequently developed the VP9 to replace it, a more productive codec and which is supported by all electronics actors.
A free Vorbis codec is used for audio.

The later AV1 format supports the VP10 codec.

The WebM project was developed jointly by Google (which brings VP8/VP9), Mozilla and Opera, and then leading web players joined this format, who will codec the <video> HTML 5 tag.

In particular, manufacturers of GPUs (for computers, cameras) will implement a codec. AMD for its GPUs and aggregates, ARM for its mobile processors, Nvidia for its GPUs, Intel will enable hardware acceleration of WebM on its integrated circuits if this format becomes popular, Texas Instruments for its processors and many others...

The world's leading video provider Youtube has already started uploading VP8 videos. You can see them through a search on the site with an additional parameter:

https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=trailers&aq=f&webm=1

Of course, you need a compatible browser.

Patent question

The most common codec, H.264, considered the best compared to Theora open source, is the subject of the MPEG/LA patent, which makes you pay very high annual fees for distributing video in this format.

Let's clarify that software patents restricting the use of codecs apply only to the United States and South Korea.
This, however, is enough to prohibit Firefox from adopting H.264, even if an independent project has been launched for a version of Firefox that supports it, intended for the rest of the World.

With the advent of WebM, which has a free and high-quality license close to H.264, browsers have a codec that can be used for free for the <video> tag.

On May 4, the license was revised to separate copyright from the code now under the BSD license and codec patents, which retain a clause against litigation. She bans its use by those who sue her for patent infringement.

In March 2013, Google signed an approval with MPEG-LA, which owns the H.264 rights to patents it holds that may be used in VP8 and its successors, and this approval exempts VP8 users from any restrictions when those patents are. This is not an admission that VP8 infringes on H.264 patents, Google said in a release.

Is the VP8 a copy of H.264

When Steve Jobs was asked what Apple's plans were for WebM, he simply put a link to VP8's technical analysis in response. (Shift 2015: The page in question has been removed).

Is VP8 superior to H.264? This comparison is made by a programmer from H.264. Is he objective? In fact, there are some contradictions in the analysis:

It is clear that this software is even older than x264 .

Then:

It's just that VP8 is too similar to H.264.

If the VP8 codec was older than H.264, then rather H.264 would be too similar to VP8!

AV1

Comparing VP8 and H264 or even VP9 and H265 is no longer relevant in 2018, as the successor to VP9 and H265, AOVideo 1, supports a consortium including Google, Amazon, Cisco, Mozilla, Intel, Microsoft, Netflix as part of the Alliance for Open Media. There is not enough Apple in the group, as usual.

The new codec is not a patent office in the USA, in the future it is planned to be 35% more compact than VP9 and H265, with equivalent compression speed and decompression.

It uses for containers WebM (.webm), Matroska (.mkv), ISO base media file (.mp4). Not supported directly on iOS and macOS.

In 2020, AV1 is supported by Chrome, Firefox, Opera, Edge for browsers, VLC among other things for video players.

Further information

The WebM project site for converting video to WebM format offers an FFmpeg encoder with a patch that adds VP9 to the format list. It has been used by Youtube since April 2015 and allows you to increase the video resolution with the same bandwidth. But this will really be suitable for the upcoming hardware acceleration in video cards .
The VP9 SDK allows you to add VP9 programming and decryption functions to applications.

• WebM overview. (PDF/English).