Re: Codecs for <video> and <audio>

On Tue, Jul 7, 2009 at 9:30 AM, Ian Hickson<ian@hixie.ch> wrote:
> On Tue, 7 Jul 2009, Silvia Pfeiffer wrote:
>> On Tue, Jul 7, 2009 at 8:56 AM, Ian Hickson<ian@hixie.ch> wrote:
>> > On Mon, 6 Jul 2009, Jonas Sicking wrote:
>> >>
>> >> So the only way to move forward that I can see is to ensure Theoras
>> >> popularity. Having HTML 5 endorse theora would be a big step in that
>> >> direction (the last point is as I understand it the one you don't
>> >> agree with?).
>> >
>> > I don't think the spec will have any effect on Theora's popularity. In
>> > fact, Theora is probably already more popular than anything else in
>> > the spec, if we go by volume of e-mail sent per topic. Nothing else in
>> > the spec has resulted in this much media attention.
>>
>> In your eyes, what would be the downside of writing Theora into the
>> spec? It seems to me that many people see an advantage in doing so. I
>> haven't heard of any disadvantages yet.
>
> The downside is that it would not match reality.
>
> I think it would be harmful to spec something that is actively different
> than what a browser vendor will implement. This is why HTML5 started --
> because the W3C wrote specs that were idealistic and did not match the
> actual deployed landscape.

Seeing as XiphQT is available, I think that argument is weakened - it
is not as clean cut as "no support", which is what happened with past
W3C specs.

I am more concerned whether we would alienate Apple by such a move,
which would be counter-productive. But maybe one of the Apple people
could voice what they would be concerned with if Theora was put into
the spec as baseline codec right now. Just to ascertain: putting
Theora into the spec does not mean other codecs cannot be used.

Regards,
Silvia.

Received on Tuesday, 7 July 2009 00:00:41 UTC