Microsoft Reiterates HTML5 Support, H.264 Is ‘More Certain’

Microsoft on Monday provided some additional details on its decision to support HTML5 and H.264, calling the video format more certain from a legal and technology standpoint, and denying that the company benefits financially by supporting H.264.

“For many reasons, H.264 video offers a more certain path than other video formats and does so in a way that delivers a great HTML5 experience for developers and end-users,” Dean Hachamovitch, the general manager of Internet Explorer, wrote in a blog post.

Last week, Hachamovitch penned another blog post in which he said HTML5 is the future of the Web, and that Internet Explorer 9 will support H.264 video only. Prompted by comments on that blog post, he wrote a follow-up to further explain the decision MCTS Training.

“First and most important, we think it is the best available video codec today for HTML5 for our customers,” he wrote Monday. “Relative to alternatives, H.264 maintains strong hardware support in PCs and mobile devices as well as a breadth of implementation in consumer electronics devices around the world, excellent video quality, scale of existing usage, availability of tools and content authoring systems, and overall industry momentum – each an important factor that contributes to our point of view.”

The format also provides “the best certainty and clarity” when it comes to legal rights, Hachamovitch wrote. Implementation rights for the H.264 standard are handled by the MPEG Licensing Authority (MPEG-LA), which “provides a stable system from which we can support our customers.”

Hachamovitch acknowledged that there is “never complete certainty” when it comes to licensing. MPEG-LA has committed to offering H.264 video royalty-free until at least 2016. At that point, Microsoft fully expects “to commit to supporting the extension of this license and associated terms beyond that date,” he said.

The support of a group like MPEG-LA, however, is one of the reasons Microsoft is supporting H.264.

“When there’s industry consensus and confidence that the uncertainties are resolved, we’ll be open to considering other codecs,” Hachamovitch wrote. “Until then, we’ll continue with our current plans to deliver great HTML5 video in IE9 with certainty for consumers and developers.”

He denied that Microsoft benefits financially from this decision. “Microsoft pays into MPEG-LA about twice as much as it receives back for rights to H.264,” he said. “We do not foresee this patent pool ever producing a material revenue stream, and revenue plays no part in our decision here MCITP Certification.”

The issue over HTML5 has made headlines in recent weeks thanks to the battle between Apple and Adobe over the effectiveness of Flash. Adobe’s Flash is not supported in Apple products like the iPhone, iPod touch, or iPad because Flash is unstable and antiquated, Apple’s Steve Jobs claimed in a recent note on the Apple Web site. Apple will instead focus on HTML5, Jobs said.

Adobe denied that Flash is unstable, recently stopped iPhone Flash development , and said it will instead focus on Android development.

Hachamovitch said Monday that Microsoft’s IE9 will “of course … continue to support Flash and other plug-ins.”

“We’re committed to plug-in support because developer choice and opportunity in authoring web pages are very important,” he wrote.

For those looking for more than just H.264, Hachamovitch said that “users can install other codecs for use in Windows Media Player and Windows Media Center. For Web browsers, developers can continue to offer plug-ins (using NPAPI or ActiveX; they are effectively equivalent in this scenario) so that Web pages can play video using these codecs on Windows.”

One of the reasons to support H.264, however, is its level of security, he said. Downloading codecs can open users up to malware and other security risks. “By building on H.264 for HTML5 video functionality, we provide a higher level of certainty regarding the security of this aspect of browsing and our web platform,” he wrote.