We've signed up as a supporter of the WebM Project, and we encourage other foundations and organizations to join us—write to webmaster@webmproject.org to learn how. Today, we're also urging Web site operators to distribute videos in the WebM format, and abandon H.264
Last week, Google announced that it plans to remove support for the H.264 video codec from its browsers, in favor of the WebM codec that they recently made free. Since then, there's been a lot of discussion about how this change will affect the Web going forward, as HTML5 standards like the video tag mature.
We applaud Google for this change; it's a positive step for free software, its users, and everyone who uses the Web. For a while now, watching video on the Web has been fraught with peril. Most of it is delivered with Flash, which is proprietary, nonstandard software. Free software alternatives like GNU Gnash are available, but the user experience isn't always as seamless as it ought to be.
When work began on the next version of the HTML standard, HTML5, work on video delivery and playback was a priority. But while everybody agrees on how the
