HTML5 and video patents

HTML is the standard set by the W3C for how to write webpage markup. HTML5 was supposed to include a standard way to add video to webpages, but after lengthy discussions about software patents, the drafters announced on June 30th 2009 that they could find no freely implementable video format to recommend.

The two main candidate formats were H.264 and Ogg Theora, but the former is heavily encumbered by patents while the latter's future was deemed questionable because, as Google's Chris DiBona said:

Here’s the challenge: Can [T]heora move forward without infringing on the other video compression patents?

A third option discussed was to use software from 20 years ago: MPEG-1.

HTML is an open standard and aims to be patent-free. Consequently, the risk of patent encumbrances is posing a real problem in extending HTML to provide a standard video interface.

Microsoft announced in April 2010 that they will only support the heavily patented MPEG H.264 for the HTML5 video tag.

Other software patent issues for HTML5

In 2007, Apple claimed to have patents covering the "canvas" tag, but they later solved this problem by agreeing to license those patent(s) under the W3C's royalty-free terms.

Related pages on ESP Wiki

• Harm to standards
• Audio-video patents
• H.264
• Companies involved in the drafting: Opera, Apple, Google ... (Microsoft only joined afterward)
• VP8 and WebM - a possible future proposal for HTML?

External links

Drafters discussion

• The June 30th announcement
  • The ensuing discussion thread can be read at whatwg.org or [ at gmane.org
• A mail from the HTML5 drafters mailing list - at the bottom, you'll find links to the other mails in that thread. This conversations gives some info on the situation.

Press coverage of the announcement

• Ars Technica's article, July 5th
• Slashdot's initial coverage and later Slashdot discussion
• An Apple forum discussion
• August 2009: Patents, Video, and an Open Internet
• August 2009: Microsoft joins HTML 5 standard fray in earnest (note: this is after the removal of Ogg Theora)

Further analyses afterwards

• Patents and their effect on Standards:
 Open video codecs for HTML5, from IFOSS Law Review, January 2010
• Nokia's 2007 position paper arguing against Ogg Theora in HTML5

General discussion

• Wikipedia: Use of Ogg formats in HTML5
• Wikipedia: HTML5 video