Do you know that video codecs, video containers and video formats are three different things? If not, then this guide might be for you. I’m trying to keep it as simple as possible, which means that this will not be as detailed as it could be. Afterwards you will be able to distinguish between codecs, [...]

Categories: Tutorials Basic

When you look at HTML5 video support of the five most popular web browsers, you notice that there is not a single browser supporting the two formats WebM and H.264. Depending on your browser choice, you end up either with one or the other, but not both. Problems will arise for Internet users once the [...]

Categories: Browsing, Firefox, Google Chrome, Internet Explorer

The announcement that Google would remove native H.264 playback support caused quite an uproar on the Internet (see Google Ditches H.264 Support In Google Chrome). Google Chrome up to this point was the only web browser that supported H.264, Theora and WebM8 videos which was bound to change with the announcement. Two browser camps have [...]

Categories: Browsing, Google Chrome, Microsoft

There is still some confusion surrounding HTML5 video formats and which browser supports which. Mozilla Firefox for instance does not support the H.264 video format which means that users who encounter videos encoded in the format will not be able to view them in the browser, unless the site that is offering them is offering [...]

Categories: Browsing, Firefox

I thought I’d take a bit of a break from the desktops (we’ll come back to a new alternative desktop soon) and help the users out with getting both Ubuntu 10.04 and Fedora 13 working with some of the popular media types. This is a crucial chapter in a users life with Linux as we [...]

Categories: Linux, Music and Video, Open Source, Tutorials Basic

Google yesterday officially announced the release of the Open Source, royalty free video format WebM making it a third contender for the HTML5 video crown after H.264 and Theora. WebM video might however be exactly the compromise that most companies where looking for. You might remember that the major browser developers could not agree on [...]

Categories: The Web

Normally users check video files and their required codecs to make sure the file plays properly on their system. But there are some users – including myself – who want to know the codecs that are installed on a system. This is useful for compatibility and playback reasons, for example to make sure that a [...]

Categories: Music and Video, Software, Windows