HTML video#Transparent video

The {{tag|video|o}} element started being discussed by the WHATWG in October 2006.{{cite web |title=[whatwg] How not to fix HTML from Charles Iliya Krempeaux on 2006-10-30 (whatwg@whatwg.org from October 2006) |url=https://lists.w3.org/Archives/Public/public-whatwg-archive/2006Oct/0189.html |access-date=2022-08-29 |website=lists.w3.org}} The {{tag|video|o}} element was proposed by Opera Software in February 2007.{{cite mailing list |url = http://lists.whatwg.org/pipermail/whatwg-whatwg.org/2007-February/009702.html |title= [whatwg] <video> element proposal |date=28 February 2007 | access-date=10 April 2010 |mailing-list= What Working Group |last=van Kesteren |first = Anne}} Opera also released a preview build that was showcased the same day,{{cite web | title= Browser War: Episode II – Attack of the DOMs | url= http://browserwarii.eventbrite.com/ | access-date= 10 April 2012 | archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20130223083257/http://browserwarii.eventbrite.com/ | archive-date= 23 February 2013 | url-status= dead }}{{cite web |date=March 1, 2007 |title=SV Web Builders Event – World Premier of Opera with builtin video support |url=http://coolastory.blogspot.com/2007/03/sv-web-builders-event-world-premier-of.html |access-date=10 April 2012}} and a manifesto that called for video to become a first-class citizen of the web.{{cite web | title = A Call for Video on the Web | url = http://people.opera.com/howcome/2007/video/ | access-date = 10 April 2012 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20120426030127/http://people.opera.com/howcome/2007/video/ | archive-date = 26 April 2012 | url-status = dead }}

The following HTML code fragment will embed a WebM video into a web page.

This is fallback content to display for user agents that do not support the video tag.

The "controls" attribute enables the browser's own user interface for controlling playback. Alternatively, playback can be controlled with JavaScript, which the web designer can use to create a custom user interface. The optional "poster" attribute specifies an image to show in the video's place before playback is started. Its purpose is to be representative of the video.

Video format support varies among browsers (see below), so a web page can provide video in multiple formats. For other features, browser sniffing is used sometimes, which may be error-prone: any web developer's knowledge of browsers will inevitably be incomplete or not up-to-date. The browser in question "knows best" what formats it can use. The "video" element supports fallback through specification of multiple sources. Using any number of <source> elements, as shown below, the browser will choose automatically which file to download. Alternatively, the JavaScript {{mono|canPlayType()}} function can be used to achieve the same. The "type" attribute specifies the MIME type and possibly a list of codecs, which helps the browser to determine whether it can decode the file without beginning to download it. The MIME type denotes the container format of the file, and the container format defines the interpretation of the codec string.{{cite web |title=The "codecs" parameter in common media types |url=https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/Media/Formats/codecs_parameter |access-date=14 July 2020}}

This is fallback content to display for user agents that do not support the video tag.

{{See also|Use of Ogg formats in HTML5}}

The HTML specification does not specify which video and audio formats browsers should support. User agents are free to support any video formats they feel are appropriate, but content authors cannot assume that any video will be accessible by all complying user agents, since user agents have no minimal set of video and audio formats to support.

The HTML5 Working Group considered it desirable to specify at least one video format which all user agents (browsers) should support. The ideal format in this regard would:

• Have good compression, good image quality, and low decode processor use.
• Be royalty-free.
• In addition to software decoders, a hardware video decoder should exist for the format, as many embedded processors do not have the performance to decode video.

Initially, Ogg Theora was the recommended standard video format in HTML5, because it was not affected by any known patents. But on 10 December 2007, the HTML5 specification was updated,{{cite mailing list |url = http://lists.whatwg.org/pipermail/whatwg-whatwg.org/2007-December/013135.html |title = Video codec requirements changed |date = 10 December 2007 |access-date = 25 February 2008 |mailing-list = What WG |last = Hickson |first = Ian |url-status = dead |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20120219232940/http://lists.whatwg.org/pipermail/whatwg-whatwg.org/2007-December/013135.html |archive-date = 19 February 2012 }} replacing the reference to concrete formats:

{{blockquote|User agents should support Theora video and Vorbis audio, as well as the Ogg container format.}}

with a placeholder:{{cite web |title=(X)HTML5 Tracking |url=http://html5.org/tools/web-apps-tracker?from=1142&to=1143 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110726160947/http://html5.org/tools/web-apps-tracker?from=1142&to=1143 |archive-date=26 July 2011 |access-date=23 June 2009 |publisher=HTML5}}

{{blockquote |It would be helpful for interoperability if all browsers could support the same codecs. However, there are no known codecs that satisfy all the current players: we need a codec that is known to not require per-unit or per-distributor licensing, that is compatible with the open source development model, that is of sufficient quality as to be usable, and that is not an additional submarine patent risk for large companies. This is an ongoing issue and this section will be updated once more information is available.{{cite mailing list |url=http://lists.whatwg.org/pipermail/whatwg-whatwg.org/2007-December/013152.html |title=Removal of Ogg is *preposterous* |first=Manuel |last=Amador |date=11 December 2011 |access-date=25 August 2009 |mailing-list=WHATWG |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080821163038/http://lists.whatwg.org/pipermail/whatwg-whatwg.org/2007-December/013152.html |archive-date=21 August 2008 |url-status=dead }}}}

The result was a polarisation of HTML video between industry-standard, ISO-defined but patent-encumbered formats, and open formats. The new AV1 format by Alliance for Open Media aims to be both industry standard, royalty-free, and open, and has wide industry support.

{{See also|Theora|WebM}}

Although Theora is not affected by known non-free patents, Apple{{cite web |last=Metz |first=Cade |date=April 30, 2010 |title=Steve Jobs: mystery patent pool to attack Ogg Theora |url=https://www.theregister.co.uk/2010/04/30/steve_jobs_claims_ogg_theora_attack/ |access-date=9 July 2011 |publisher=The Register}} has expressed concern about unknown patents that might affect it, whose owners might be waiting for a corporation with extensive financial resources to use the format before suing.{{cite mailing list |url=http://lists.whatwg.org/pipermail/whatwg-whatwg.org/2007-December/013154.html |title=Re: Removal of Ogg is *preposterous* |date=11 December 2007 |access-date=25 February 2008 |url-status= dead |mailing-list=WHATWG |last=Hickson |first=Ian |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20080821194930/http://lists.whatwg.org/pipermail/whatwg-whatwg.org/2007-December/013154.html |archive-date= 21 August 2008}} Formats like H.264 might also be subject to unknown patents in principle, but they have been deployed much more widely and so it is presumed that any patent-holders would have already made themselves known. Apple has also opposed requiring Ogg format support in the HTML standard (even as a "should" requirement) on the grounds that some devices might support other formats much more easily, and that HTML has historically not required particular formats for anything.{{cite mailing list |url=http://lists.whatwg.org/htdig.cgi/whatwg-whatwg.org/2007-March/010392.html |title=Codecs (was Re: Apple Proposal for Timed Media Elements) |date=21 March 2007 |mailing-list=WHATWG |last=Stachowiak |first=Maciej}}

Some web developers criticized the removal of the Ogg formats from the specification.{{cite mailing list |url=http://lists.whatwg.org/pipermail/whatwg-whatwg.org/2007-December/013152.html |title=[whatwg] Removal of Ogg is *preposterous* |date=11 December 2007 |access-date=25 August 2009 |url-status=dead |mailing-list=WHATWG |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080821163038/http://lists.whatwg.org/pipermail/whatwg-whatwg.org/2007-December/013152.html |archive-date=21 August 2008}} A follow-up discussion also occurred on the W3C questions and answers blog.{{cite web |url=http://www.w3.org/QA/2007/12/when_will_html_5_support_soone.html |title=When will HTML 5 support <video>? Sooner if you help |last=Connolly |first=Dan |date=18 December 2007 |publisher=W3C |access-date=23 June 2009}}

Mozilla and Opera support only the open formats of Theora and WebM. Google stated its intention to remove support for H.264 in 2011, specifically for the HTML video tag.{{cite web |url=https://blog.chromium.org/2011/01/more-about-chrome-html-video-codec.html |title=More about the Chrome HTML Video Codec Change |first=Michael 'Mike' |last=Jazayeri |publisher=Chromium blog |date=14 January 2011}} Although it has been removed from Chromium, {{as of|2021|1|lc=y}} it has yet to be removed from Google Chrome ten years later.{{cite web |url=http://news.cnet.com/8301-30685_3-57397031-264/mozilla-execs-capitulate-in-h.264-web-video-war/ |title=Mozilla execs capitulate in H.264 Web-video war |first=Stephen |last=Shankland |publisher=CNET |date=14 March 2012}}{{cite web |url=http://www.howtogeek.com/227940/why-youtube-in-chrome-and-firefox-is-draining-your-laptop%E2%80%99s-battery-and-how-to-fix-it/ |title=Why YouTube in Chrome (and Firefox) is Draining Your Laptop's Battery and How to Fix It |first=Chris |last=Hoffman |publisher=Howtogeek |date=9 September 2015}}

{{see also|Dynamic Adaptive Streaming over HTTP}}

The adaptive bitrate streaming standard MPEG-DASH can be used in Web browsers via the Media Source Extensions (MSE){{cite web |date=July 26, 2022 |title=Media Source Extensions |url=https://dvcs.w3.org/hg/html-media/raw-file/tip/media-source/media-source.html}} and JavaScript-based DASH players. Such players are, e.g., the open-source project dash.js of the DASH Industry Forum, but there are also products such as the HTML5 Video Player of Bitmovin{{cite web |url=https://bitmovin.com/video-player|title=Adaptive Streaming HTML5 Player from Bitmovin|date=20 April 2022 }} (using HTML with JavaScript, but also a Flash-based DASH players for legacy Web browsers not supporting the MSE).

Google's acquisition of On2 in 2010 resulted in its acquisition of the VP8 video format. Google has provided a royalty-free license to use VP8.{{cite web |author= |title=Additional IP Rights Grant (Patents) |url=http://www.webmproject.org/license/additional/}} Google also started WebM, which combines the standardized open source VP8 video codec with Vorbis audio in a Matroska based container. The opening of VP8 was welcomed by the Free Software Foundation.{{cite web |url=http://www.fsf.org/news/free-software-foundation-statement-on-webm-and-vp8 |title=Free Software Foundation statement on WebM and VP8 |first=Matt |last=Lee |publisher=FSF |date=19 May 2010}}

When Google announced in January 2011 that it would end native support of H.264 in Chrome,{{cite web |last=Jazayeri |first=Michael 'Mike' |date=January 11, 2011 |title=HTML Video Codec Support in Chrome |url=https://blog.chromium.org/2011/01/html-video-codec-support-in-chrome.html |publisher=The Chromium Blog}} criticism came from many quarters including Peter Bright of Ars Technica{{cite web |url=https://arstechnica.com/web/news/2011/01/googles-dropping-h264-from-chrome-a-step-backward-for-openness.ars/ |title=Google's dropping H.264 from Chrome a step backward for openness |first=Peter |last=Bright |publisher=Ars Technica |date=12 January 2011}} and Microsoft web evangelist Tim Sneath, who compared Google's move to declaring Esperanto the official language of the United States.{{cite web |url=http://blogs.msdn.com/b/tims/archive/2011/01/11/an-open-letter-from-the-president-of-the-united-states-of-google.aspx |title=An Open Letter from the President of the United States of Google |first=Tim |last=Sneath |publisher=MSDN blogs |date=11 January 2011}} However, Haavard Moen of Opera Software strongly criticized the Ars Technica article{{cite web |url=http://my.opera.com/haavard/blog/2011/01/13/openness |title=Is the removal of H.264 from Chrome a step backward for openness? |first=Haavard K |last=Moen |publisher=My Opera |date=13 January 2011}} and Google responded to the reaction by clarifying its intent to promote WebM in its products on the basis of openness.

After the launch of WebM, Mozilla and Opera have called for the inclusion of VP8 in HTML.{{cite web |last=Metz |first=Cade |title=Mozilla and Opera call for Google open codec in HTML5 spec |url=https://www.theregister.co.uk/2010/05/28/mozilla_and_opera_want_vp8_in_html5/ |work=The Register |date=28 May 2010}}

On 7 March 2013, Google Inc. and MPEG LA, LLC announced agreements covering techniques that "may be essential" to VP8, with Google receiving a license from MPEG LA and 11 patent holders, and MPEG LA ending its efforts to form a VP8 patent pool.{{cite web |url=http://www.h-online.com/open/news/item/Google-and-MPEG-LA-make-a-deal-over-VP8-codec-Update-1818785.html |title=Google and MPEG LA make a deal over VP8 codec – Update |author=djwm |work=The H Open |publisher=Heise Media UK |date=7 March 2013 |access-date=3 April 2013}}{{cite web |url=http://www.mpegla.com/Lists/MPEG%20LA%20News%20List/Attachments/88/n-13-03-07.pdf |title=Archived copy |access-date=3 April 2013 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160305123623/http://www.mpegla.com/Lists/MPEG%20LA%20News%20List/Attachments/88/n-13-03-07.pdf |archive-date=5 March 2016}}{{cite web |url=http://blog.webmproject.org/2013/03/vp8-and-mpeg-la.html |title=VP8 and MPEG LA |date=7 March 2013 |access-date=3 April 2013 |work=WebM Project blog}}{{cite web |date=March 8, 2013 |title=Patent clouds remain over VP8: Google points to FRAND option, Nokia alleges infringement in court |url=http://www.fosspatents.com/2013/03/patent-clouds-remain-over-vp8-google.html |website=FOSS Patents}}

In 2012, VP9 was released by Google as a successor to VP8, also open and royalty free.

At the end of 2017 the new AV1 format developed by the Alliance for Open Media (AOMedia) as the evolution of VP9 has reached the feature freeze, and the bitstream freeze is expected for January 2018. Firefox nightly builds already include support for AV1.

{{See also|H.264/MPEG-4 AVC}}

H.264/MPEG-4 AVC is widely used, and has good speed, compression, hardware decoders, and video quality, but is patent-encumbered.{{cite web |url=http://www.mpegla.com/main/programs/avc/Documents/avc-att1.pdf |title=AVC/H.264 Patent List |publisher=MPEG LA |date=1 February 2010 |access-date=13 April 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150514191648/http://www.mpegla.com/main/programs/avc/Documents/avc-att1.pdf |archive-date=14 May 2015 |url-status=dead }} Users of H.264 need licenses either from the individual patent holders, or from the MPEG LA, a group of patent holders including Microsoft and Apple, except for some Internet broadcast video uses.{{citation |url = http://www.mpegla.com/main/programs/AVC/Pages/Licensors.aspx |title = AVC/H.264 Licensors |publisher = MPEG LA |access-date = 13 April 2010 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20150530040919/http://www.mpegla.com/main/programs/AVC/Pages/Licensors.aspx |archive-date = 30 May 2015 |url-status = dead }} H.264 is usually used in the MP4 container format, together with Advanced Audio Coding (AAC) audio. AAC is also covered by patents in itself, so users of MP4 will have to license both H.264 and AAC.

In June 2009, the WHATWG concluded that no existing format was suitable as a specified requirement.{{cite mailing list |url = http://lists.whatwg.org/htdig.cgi/whatwg-whatwg.org/2009-June/020620.html |title=Codecs for <audio> and <video> |date= 29 June 2009 |mailing-list=WHATWG |last=Hickson |first=Ian }}

Apple still only supports H.264, but Microsoft now supports VP9 and WebM, and has pledged support for AV1.

{{main|OpenH264}}

On 30 October 2013, Cisco announced that it was making a binary H.264 module available for download. Cisco will pay the costs of patent licensing for those binary modules when downloaded by the using software while it is being installed, making H.264 free to use in that specific case.{{cite web|url=http://www.openh264.org/faq.html|title=OpenH264}}

In the announcement, Cisco cited its desire of furthering the use of the WebRTC project as the reason, since WebRTC's video chat feature will benefit from having a video format supported in all browsers.{{cite web|url=http://blogs.cisco.com/collaboration/open-source-h-264-removes-barriers-webrtc|title=Open-Sourced H.264 Removes Barriers to WebRTC|publisher=Cisco|access-date=30 October 2013|date=30 October 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150706222941/http://blogs.cisco.com/collaboration/open-source-h-264-removes-barriers-webrtc|archive-date=6 July 2015|url-status=dead}} The H.264 module will be available on "all popular or feasibly supportable platforms, which can be loaded into any application".{{cite web|url=https://brendaneich.com/2013/10/ciscos-h-264-good-news/|title=Cisco's H.264 Good News|author=Brendan Eich|date=30 October 2013|publisher=Brendan Eich's blog}}

Cisco is also planning to publish source code for those modules under BSD license, but without paying the royalties, so the code will practically be free software only in countries without H.264 software patents, which has already been true about other existing implementations.

Also on 30 October 2013, Mozilla's Brendan Eich announced that Firefox would automatically download Cisco's H.264 module when needed by default. He also noted that the binary module is not a perfect solution, since users do not have full free software rights to "modify, recompile, and redistribute without license agreements or fees". Thus Xiph and Mozilla continue the development of Daala.{{cite web|url=http://xiphmont.livejournal.com/61927.html|title=Comments on Cisco, Mozilla, and H.264|publisher=Monty Montgomery blog|author=Monty Montgomery|access-date=30 October 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150519064602/http://xiphmont.livejournal.com/61927.html|archive-date=19 May 2015|url-status=dead}}

OpenH264 only supports the baseline profile of H.264, and does not by itself address the need for an AAC decoder. Therefore, it is not considered sufficient for typical MP4 web video, which is typically in the high profile with AAC audio.{{cite web

|url=https://andreasgal.com/2014/10/14/openh264-now-in-firefox/

|title=OpenH264 now in Firefox

|first=Andreas

|last=Gal

|date=14 October 2014

|access-date=25 February 2015

}}{{cite web

|url=https://wiki.mozilla.org/Platform/MediaSourceExtensions

|title=MediaSourceExtensions (mozilla wiki)

|publisher=mozilla

|access-date=25 February 2015

}}{{cite web

|url=https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=799318#c57

|title=Support H.264/AAC/MP3 video/audio playback on desktop Firefox

|publisher=mozilla

|access-date=25 February 2015

}}

However, for use in WebRTC, the omission of AAC was justified in the release announcement: "the standards bodies have aligned on Opus and G.711 as the common audio codecs for WebRTC". There is doubt as to whether a capped global licensing of AAC, like Cisco's for H.264, is feasible after AAC's licensing bureau removed the price cap shortly after the release of OpenH264.{{cite web |last=xiphmont |title=It's not a strawman after it comes true |url=http://xiphmont.livejournal.com/63152.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170421060115/http://xiphmont.livejournal.com/63152.html |archive-date=April 21, 2017}}

This table shows which video formats are likely to be supported by a given user agent. Most of the browsers listed here use a multimedia framework for decoding and display of video, instead of incorporating such software components. It is not generally possible to tell the set of formats supported by a multimedia framework without querying it, because that depends on the operating system and third party codecs.{{citation |url= http://doc.qt.nokia.com/latest/phonon-overview.html#backends |contribution= Phonon documentation of backends |access-date= 3 June 2011 |publisher= Nokia |title= Qt |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20160304122148/http://doc.qt.nokia.com/latest/phonon-overview.html#backends |archive-date= 4 March 2016 |url-status= dead }} In these cases, video format support is an attribute of the framework, not the browser (or its layout engine), assuming the browser properly queries its multimedia framework before rejecting unknown video formats. In some cases, the support listed here is not a function of either codecs available within the operating system's underlying media framework, or of codec capabilities built into the browser, but rather could be by a browser add-on that might, for example, bypass the browser's normal HTML parsing of the <video> tag to embed a plug-in based video player.

Note that a video file normally contains both video and audio content, each encoded in its own format. The browser has to support both the video and audio formats. See HTML audio for a table of which audio formats are supported by each browser.

The video format can be specified by MIME type in HTML (see example). MIME types are used for querying multimedia frameworks for supported formats.{{citation |url = http://doc.qt.nokia.com/latest/phonon-overview.html#querying-backends-for-support |contribution = Phonon documentation of querying |access-date = 3 June 2011 |publisher = Nokia |title = Qt |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20160304122148/http://doc.qt.nokia.com/latest/phonon-overview.html#querying-backends-for-support |archive-date = 4 March 2016 |url-status = dead }}

Of these browsers, only Firefox and Opera employ libraries for built-in decoding. In practice, Internet Explorer and Safari can also guarantee certain format support, because their manufacturers also make their multimedia frameworks. At the other end of the scale, Konqueror has identical format support to Internet Explorer when run on Windows, and Safari when run on Mac, but the selected support here for Konqueror is the typical for Linux, where Konqueror has most of its users. In general, the format support of browsers is much dictated by conflicting interests of vendors, specifically that Media Foundation and QuickTime support commercial standards, whereas GStreamer and Phonon cannot legally support other than free formats by default on the free operating systems that they are intended for.{{Citation |url=https://www.gnu.org/licenses/gpl.html|title=GNU General Public License Version 3|publisher=Free Software Foundation|access-date=27 April 2013|date=29 June 2007}}

{{Explanation of the tables2}}

;Notes:

{{Notelist}}

Transparent video, that is video with an alpha channel, has multiple design advantages:{{Cite web |title=How to use transparent videos on the web in 2022 - Rotato |url=https://rotato.app/blog/transparent-videos-for-the-web |access-date=2022-10-20 |website=Rotato 3D Mockups |language=en |quote=This blog showcases various use cases of transparent videos in web design, besides advertising their own software product, Rotato.}}

• As it has no burnt-in background color / pattern / motif, you can change the background and/or neighboring objects in a web page any time later without the need to re-generate the video to fit into its surroundings properly, which was the far less flexible technique so far.
• You can very flexibly combine transparent videos with other elements (text, graphics, other videos or dynamically rendered content such as SVG or canvas) to achieve very dynamic layering effects.
• It opens a whole lot of possibilities also in terms of responsive web design.

• Chrome supports VP8 and VP9 encoded videos with an alpha channel served in a WebM container, since version 31 in 2013-07.{{Cite web |date=July 2013 |title=Alpha transparency in Chrome video |url=https://developer.chrome.com/blog/alpha-transparency-in-chrome-video/ |access-date=2022-10-20 |website=Chrome Developers |language=en |quote=Chrome 31 now supports video alpha transparency in WebM. In other words, Chrome takes the alpha channel into account when playing green screen videos encoded to WebM (VP8 and VP9) with an alpha channel. This means you can play videos with transparent backgrounds: over web pages, images or even other videos.}}
• Safari supports HEVC encoded videos with an alpha channel served in a MP4 container,{{Cite web |title=HEVC Video with Alpha - WWDC19 - Videos |url=https://developer.apple.com/videos/play/wwdc2019/506/ |access-date=2022-10-20 |website=Apple Developer |language=en}} since iOS 13 (2019-09) and macOS Catalina (2019-10).
• There are some other proprietary polyfill / legacy solutions with a JavaScript based video player playing back a video which upon upload to the SaaS server got converted into a proprietary video format.

• Before the HTML5 era the only way to play back transparent video was by the help of Adobe Flash Player{{Cite web |title=Create transparent backgrounds in a SWF file |url=https://helpx.adobe.com/animate/kb/transparent-background-swf-file.html |access-date=2022-10-20 |website=Adobe Technical Documentation |quote=The background color (Stage color) of a SWF file can be set to transparent. The background color or image of the HTML page that contains the SWF file shows through. This technique allows layering of SWF content with DHTML (Dynamic HTML) content. Not every web browser handles transparency in the same way. Be sure to test your SWF file in all browsers that you want to enable your audience to use. Most Linux browsers do not support Animate transparency.}} and using the transparent {{Cite web |title=Apply OBJECT and EMBED tag attributes in Adobe Flash Professional |url=https://helpx.adobe.com/flash/kb/flash-object-embed-tag-attributes.html |access-date=2022-10-20 |website=Adobe Technical Documentation |quote=transparent — The SWF content is layered together with other HTML elements on the page. The SWF file background color (Stage color) is transparent. HTML elements beneath the SWF file are visible through any transparent areas of the SWF, with alpha blending. This option reduces playback performance compared to wmode=window or wmode=direct.}} flag in its embedding code.

{{main|Encrypted Media Extensions}}

HTML has support for digital rights management (DRM, restricting how content can be used) via the Encrypted Media Extensions (EME). The addition of DRM is controversial because it allows restricting users' freedom to use media restricted by DRM, even where fair use gives users the legal right to do so.{{cite web|url=http://www.defectivebydesign.org/sign-on-against-drm-in-html|title=Keep DRM out of Web standards – Reject the Encrypted Media Extensions (EME) proposal – Defective by Design}} A main argument in W3C's approval of EME was that the video content would otherwise be delivered in plugins and apps, and not in the web browser.{{cite web|url=http://www.infoworld.com/article/2612478/html5/berners-lee-and-w3c-approve-html5-video-drm-additions.html?page=2|title=Berners-Lee and W3C approve HTML5 video DRM additions|first=Serdar|last=Yegulalp|date=4 October 2013}}

In 2013 Netflix added support for HTML video using EME, beside their old delivery method using a Silverlight plugin (also with DRM).{{cite news |last1= |first1= |date=April 15, 2013 |title=HTML5 Video at Netflix |newspaper=Medium |publisher=Netflix Technology Blog |url=https://netflixtechblog.com/html5-video-at-netflix-721d1f143979}}

In 2010, in the wake of Apple iPad launch and after Steve Jobs announced that Apple mobile devices would not support Flash, a number of high-profile sites began to serve H.264 HTML video instead of Adobe Flash for user-agents identifying as iPad.{{cite web |url=https://www.apple.com/ipad/ready-for-ipad/ |title=iPad-ready websites |access-date=5 April 2010 |publisher=Apple |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110301150334/http://www.apple.com/ipad/ready-for-ipad/ |archive-date=1 March 2011 |url-status=dead }} HTML video was not as widespread as Flash videos, though there were rollouts of experimental HTML-based video players from DailyMotion (using Ogg Theora and Vorbis format),{{cite web |title=Watch Video...without Flash | publisher = Dailymotion |date=27 May 2009 |url=https://blog.dailymotion.com/en/watch-videowithout-flash/ | access-date = 11 October 2018}} YouTube (using the H.264 and WebM formats),{{cite web |last1=Carle |first1=Kevin |last2=Zacharias |first2=Chris |date=20 January 2010 |title=Introducing YouTube HTML5 Supported Videos |url=https://blog.youtube/news-and-events/introducing-youtube-html5-supported/ |access-date=7 March 2010 |work=Youtube}} and Vimeo (using the H.264 format).{{cite web |last= Dougherty |first= Brad |title= Try our new HTML5 player! |publisher= Vimeo |date= 21 January 2010 |url= http://vimeo.com/blog:268 |access-date= 7 March 2010 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20100304180828/http://www.vimeo.com/blog:268 |archive-date= 4 March 2010 |url-status= dead }}

Support for HTML video has been steadily increasing. In June 2013, Netflix added support for HTML video.{{cite web |last=Anthony |first=Sebastian |date=28 June 2013 |title=Netflix switches from Silverlight to HTML5 in Windows 8.1, reduces CPU usage dramatically – ExtremeTech |url=http://www.extremetech.com/computing/159960-netflix-switches-from-silverlight-to-html5-in-windows-8-1-reduces-cpu-usage-dramatically}} In January 2015, YouTube switched to using HTML video instead of Flash by default.{{cite web|url=https://www.theverge.com/2015/1/27/7926001/youtube-drops-flash-for-html5-video-default|title=YouTube drops Flash for HTML5 video as default|first=Rich|last=McCormick|date=27 January 2015}} In December 2015, Facebook switched from Flash to HTML video for all video content.{{cite web|url=https://www.theverge.com/2015/12/18/10623738/facebook-now-using-html5-all-videos|title=Facebook's website now uses HTML5 instead of Flash for all videos|first=Chris|last=Welch|date=18 December 2015}}

As of 2016, Flash is still widely installed on desktops, while generally not being supported on mobile devices such as smartphones.{{cite web |last=Paul |first=Ryan |date=16 August 2012 |title=Availability of Adobe's Flash browser plugin discontinued on Android |url=https://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2012/08/availability-of-adobes-flash-browser-plugin-discontinued-on-android/}} The Flash plugin is widely assumed, including by Adobe,{{cite web|url=http://www.cio.com/article/2376661/internet/how-adobe-is-moving-on-from-flash-to-embrace-html5.html|title=How Adobe Is Moving on From Flash to Embrace HTML5|first=Chris Minnick and Ed|last=Tittel|date=30 April 2014}} to be destined to be phased out,{{cite news|url=https://thenextweb.com/apps/2015/09/01/adobe-flash-just-took-another-step-towards-death-thanks-to-google/|title=Adobe Flash is finally dead|first=Owen|last=Williams|newspaper=TNW | Apps |date=1 September 2015}}{{cite magazine|url=https://www.wired.com/2015/07/adobe-flash-player-die/|title=Flash. Must. Die.|first=Brian|last=Barrett|magazine=Wired|date=15 July 2015}} which will leave HTML video as the only widely supported method to play video on the World Wide Web. Chrome,{{cite web |date=May 9, 2016 |title=Intent to implement: HTML5 by Default |url=https://groups.google.com/a/chromium.org/forum/#!searchin/chromium-dev/HTML5$20by$20default/chromium-dev/0wWoRRhTA_E/__E3jf40OAAJ}}{{cite web|title=So long, and thanks for all the Flash|url=https://blog.chromium.org/2017/07/so-long-and-thanks-for-all-flash.html|access-date=8 December 2017}} Firefox,{{cite web |last=Smedberg |first=Benjamin |date=July 20, 2016 |title=Reducing Adobe Flash Usage in Firefox |url=https://blog.mozilla.org/futurereleases/2016/07/20/reducing-adobe-flash-usage-in-firefox/}} Safari,{{cite web|last1=Mondello|first1=Ricky|title=Next Steps for Legacy Plug-ins|url=https://webkit.org/blog/6589/next-steps-for-legacy-plug-ins/|website=WEbKit.org|publisher=Apple Inc|date=14 June 2016}} and Edge,{{cite web|last1=Cowan|first1=Crispin|title=Extending User Control of Flash with Click-to-Run|url=https://blogs.windows.com/msedgedev/2016/12/14/edge-flash-click-run/|website=Microsoft Edge DevBlog|publisher=Microsoft|date=14 December 2016}} have plans to make almost all flash content click to play in 2017. The only major browser which does not have announced plans to deprecate Flash is Internet Explorer.{{cite web|url=https://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/itpro/microsoft-edge/enterprise-guidance-using-microsoft-edge-and-ie11|title=Microsoft Edge and Internet Explorer 11 (Microsoft Edge for IT Pros)|last=eross-msft}} Adobe announced on 25 July 2017 that they would be permanently ending development of Flash in 2020.{{cite web|title=Flash & The Future of Interactive Content|url=https://blogs.adobe.com/conversations/2017/07/adobe-flash-update.html|access-date=8 December 2017}}

• HTML audio
• Comparison of HTML5 and Flash

{{Reflist|30em|refs =

{{Cite news|url=https://www.cnet.com/news/firefox-av1-challenges-apple-hevc-for-4k-friendly-video/|title=Firefox now lets you try streaming-video tech that could be better than Apple's|last1=Shankland|first1=Stephen|work=CNET|date=28 November 2017|access-date=25 December 2017|language=en}}

}}

• {{citation |url= https://html.spec.whatwg.org/multipage/media.html#the-video-element |title= What WG | contribution = HTML Standard – The Video Element | publisher =W3C| access-date = 10 July 2021}}.
• {{citation |url=http://www.w3.org/2010/Talks/1014-html5-video-fd/video-html5.pdf | title= Towards Video on the Web with HTML5 | first1=Francois |last1=Daoust |first2=Philipp |last2=Hoschka | first3=Charalampos Z | last3= Patrikakis | year=2010 | publisher = NEM Summit | place = Barcelona }}.
• {{citation |url= http://dev.opera.com/articles/view/introduction-html5-video/ |title= Introduction to HTML5 video |first1= Bruce | last1 = Lawson |first2=Patrick H. |last2=Lauke |date=11 February 2010 |publisher=Opera}}.
• {{citation |url=http://html5video.org/ |title=HTML5 Video |access-date=20 November 2012 |archive-date=19 October 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121019004827/http://html5video.org/ |url-status=dead }} video platform software and news.
• {{citation |url=http://my.opera.com/core/blog/2010/03/03/everything-you-need-to-know-about-html5-video-and-audio-2 |title = Everything you need to know about HTML5 video and audio |first=Simon |last=Pieters |date=3 March 2010 |publisher= Opera}}
• [http://www.elstel.org/html5video/FlashVersusHtml5Video.html.en HTML5 Video: A Practical Guide: Convert, Embed, Javascript and Flash Fallback for HTML5 Videos]
• [https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/HTML/Supported_media_formats Mozilla's overview of media formats supported by browsers]

{{W3C standards}}

{{Web interfaces}}

Category:HTML5

Category:New media

Category:Multimedia