Google adds new VP9 video codec to Chromium

Google has completed defining its new video codec dubbed VP9, which it will soon use in its Chrome browser and on YouTube, a tech site reported Tuesday.

 

The Internet giant has even enabled the VP9 compression technology as the default in Chromium, the open-source project on which Chrome is based, The Next Web reported.

 

"VP9 is the successor to VP8, both of which fall under Google’s WebM project of freeing Web codecs from royalty constraints. Despite the fact that Google unveiled WebM three years ago at its I/O conference, VP8 is still rarely used when compared to H.264, today’s most popular video codec," it said.

 

It said developer François Beaufort cited a Chromium code review with the description: “Remove VP9 flag, and enable VP9 support by default.”

 

Beaufort said VP9's main advantage is that it is 50 percent better than the very best H.264.

 

"What it means is on average you'll use half the bandwidth when watching a video on the internet ... Cool thing is that VP9 is also going to be part of WebRTC at the end of the year," he said.

 

Yet, The Next Web noted VP9's predecessor VP8 was still the subject of patent-infringement claims from Nokia.

 

"Presumably, Google has learned and will make an effort to avoid such problems again, especially given that VP9 is meant to become part of WebRTC, an open project that lets users communicate in real-time via voice and video sans plugins, later this year," it said. — VC, GMA News