Mozilla working on plugin-free video codec

Mozilla is now in the midst of efforts to create a new JavaScript-based video codec that could soon render plugins irrelevant.

 

The open-source browser maker said it and OTOY are working on the next-generation JavaScript-based video codec, dubbed ORBX.js, mainly for "movies and cloud gaming."

 

"ORBX.js, a downloadable HD codec written in JS and WebGL. The advantages are many. On the good-for-the-open-web side: no encumbered-format burden on web browsers, they are just IP-blind runtimes. Technical wins start with the ability to evolve and improve the codec over time, instead of taking ten years to specify and burn it into silicon," Mozilla's Brenan Eich said in a blog post.

 

Eich described the new technology as promising to deliver "Tony Stark stuff," referring to the high-tech alter-ego of fictional superhero Iron Man.

 

He noted the new codec promises 25 percent better compression than H.264, better color depth and intra-frame coding, and a more parallelizable design.

 

Watermarking to replace DRM?

 

Eich also noted OTOY's graphics processing unit (GPU) cloud can allow watermarking of frames, possibly doing away with digital rights management (DRM).

 

"We shall see; I am hopeful. This kind of per-user watermarking has been prohibitively expensive, but OTOY estimates the cost at pennies per movie with their approach," Mozilla said.

 

"When we at Mozilla say the Web is the platform, we are not bluffing," Eich said. — TJD, GMA News