This is absolutely outstanding news. Google gets some flack for privacy (some deserved, some not), but it's undeniable that they care deeply about the health of the Web.
"a container format based on a subset of the Matroska media container"
I wonder what reasons they have for not using Ogg, or at least real Matroska? I notice their container format doesn't support subtitles, and is "undecided" on tags. Why on earth would they drop such important functionality, especially when every other modern container supports them?
It would be nice if Google and Mozilla add support for VP8 in Ogg or Matroska, so users can continue to use existing processing tools for web video.
"Google gets some flack for privacy (some deserved, some not), but it's undeniable that they care deeply about the health of the Web."
That's ridiculous. Smart competitors commoditize complements. Google's goal is to commoditize content and content players. When cash stops exchanging hands for content it starts exchanging hands for advertising. This is a strategic move by Google, not an altruistic move.
Say hello to your new master, same as the old master.
"a container format based on a subset of the Matroska media container"
I wonder what reasons they have for not using Ogg, or at least real Matroska? I notice their container format doesn't support subtitles, and is "undecided" on tags. Why on earth would they drop such important functionality, especially when every other modern container supports them?
It would be nice if Google and Mozilla add support for VP8 in Ogg or Matroska, so users can continue to use existing processing tools for web video.
e: Looks like there's already an Ogg mapping for VP8 at < http://people.collabora.co.uk/~slomo/webm/ogg-vp8.pdf >