An Invisible Tax on the Web: Video Codecs by Judy DeMocker
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There is a fact that we have to pay to watch online videos, even on free sites like YouTube. That’s because about four-fifths of all video on the Web relies on a proprietary technology called H.264 video codec.
A codec is a piece of software that compresses large media files for faster transmission over the Internet. In browsers, codecs can decode video files so we can watch them on our phones, computers, and TVS. As Web users, we take this effect for granted. But the truth is, companies are spending millions of dollars a year to get us free video, and the bill is getting more expensive.
Most video files now run on most devices, thanks to the uniqueness of H.264. Let’s start with some of the facts and factors that govern the Web video business.
Video streaming costs a lot of money. Many companies spend a lot of money using H.264. These include software and web companies, content creators and distributors like Netflix, Amazon and YouTube. Then there’s chip maker ARM. Where did the money go? Went to MPEG-LA, which represents technological innovation in the United States, Japan, South Korea, Germany, France, and the Netherlands.
Newer encoders are twice as efficient. In the business world, efficiency equals money. Better compression opens the door to two commercial benefits: better video quality and lower bandwidth costs. Companies such as Cisco,YouTube and Netflix spend a lot of money on network transport to send video files to browsers. Today, more than 70 percent of Internet congestion comes from video, and that proportion is expected to rise to more than 80 percent in the next few years. New encoders can cost ten times more. Mpeg-la’s next-generation encoder, HEVC/H.265, is more efficient than H.264. The downside is that it has 23 patents and an apparently confusing terminology originally designed for DVD users. Early estimates of h.265 cost about ten times as much as H.264.
Users were given a free trial of H.264. To establish a milestone for the H.264 encoder, Cisco announced that it will open source it in 2013. Cisco offers H.264 Binary to developers for free, so small stores can add streaming capabilities to apps. Mozilla uses Cisco’s open source H.264 encoder in Firefox. Without Cisco’s largesse, Mozilla would have paid $9.75 million a year in royalties. Now the question is: will Cisco also pay for the H.265? If not, how will this affect the development of the Web? How can startups, hobbyists, and open source projects use this important Web technology?
Promote the establishment of tax-exempt encoders
Mozilla is driven by a mission to make the web platform more efficient, secure, and high-performance for all users. With this idea in mind, the company has been supporting The Xiph.org Foundation’s work to build a universal tax-free encoder that can be used to compress and decode hardware software and media files on web pages.
But when it comes to video codec, the Xiph.org Foundation is not the only organization involved. In the last century, many companies began to build viable alternatives to proprietary video codecs. Mozilla’s Daala project, Google released VP9, and Cisco created Thor for simpler video conferencing. These efforts share a common goal: to build a next-generation video compression technology to make sharing high-quality video faster, more reliable, and less expensive.
In 2015, Mozilla, Google,Cisco, and others formed AOMedia with Amazon,Netflix, and hardware vendors AMD, ARM,Intel, and NVIDIA. With the growth of AOMedia, a new video format was created in conjunction with the new encoder AV1. AV1 is largely based on Google’s VP9 code and collaboration tools, and technology from Daala,Thor, AND VP10.
Why is AV1 popular?
There are two reasons. First, AV1 is free for all. Software companies can use it to build video streams for their apps. Web developers can build their own video players. It opens up more business opportunities and lowers the barriers to entry for entrepreneurs, artists and ordinary people. Most importantly, everyone can afford it.
AV1 is well on its way to becoming a reliable alternative to proprietary video codecs. As of June 2018, the AV1 1.0 Specification is stable and is available to the public as a free trial without tax.
There are probably still a lot of people who don’t know much about AV1. Google AV1 engineers will share more about AV1’s current status and future at the RTC Live Internet Conference on September 7-8. Click here to register for free and learn more about dry goods on site.