AAC ( not free) is the most common audio-codec used with AVC. Not only does OpenH264 not decode AVC High Profile-video, it also does not decode audio. Regarding YouTube and other sites using html for video, Firefox on Windows 7+, OS X and Linux-distributions with the needed codecs installed, will use the system’s decoders for codecs it does not have built-in support for, such as AVC and AAC. I totally fail to understand how a codec that is not free can even be suggested to be MTI. The two candidates are VP8 (which is free) and AVC Baseline Profile (which is not free). For audio, WebRTC chose the open codec Opus as mandatory to implement (MTI). We need implementations that can be truly open, not relying on proprietary plugins. We need truly free codecs, the are free to implement and use. Yes, it makes AVC Baseline Profile available free of charge, through the closed plugin from Cisco, who pays the license-fee. That is why the OpenH264-plugin is run in a sandbox in Firefox. While the source-code is open, Cisco’s free license is only for the closed binary (the plugin) they distribute. OpenH264 is included in Firefox primarily for WebRTC, when communicating with a client that does not support VP8. Most videos on the web are encoded in AVC High Profile, which is a much more efficient codec (yes, those different codecs, not different “profiles” of the same codec). OpenH264 currently supports only AVC Baseline Profile. It's nice to almost be free of Flash and their dominance over video content.Įdit: This explains a bit more, effectively making H.264 free for use in WebRTC. I hope it becomes available across all major browsers. Well they have the right to say what the supported platforms are. On the web site it say's it will be free to use on supported platforms. It's that they will not let you have access to the stream with out first detecting Flash and setting a cookie. In the case of the video that won't play it's not that it can't play it. Some sites won't work including CBS,FOX,NBC, Hulu and many others. Although you still get a occasional popup to install Flash it's not needed. I've yet to find anything on YouTube and several other sites that cannot be played. Meaning Flash is no longer needed for a tremendous amount of video on the web. Cisco released it under the BSD license and now H.264 is free for use. The newest versions of Firefox now includes the open h264 video codec.

Openh264 video codec virus