Google to open source $124.6m video codec, says report

Google will take a swashbuckling step towards license-free web video playback next month when it open sources the leading video codec from a company it just acquired for $124.6 million, according to a report citing multiple people familiar with the matter.

NewTeeVee reports that Mountain View will open source On2's VP8 codec at its Google I/O developers conference in San Francisco in mid-May. The publication also says that Google will roll the codec into its Chrome browser, and that Mozilla will do the same with Firefox.

Google first announced its acquisition of On2 Technologies in August of last year, and at the time, the company at least hinted that it would open source the outfit's leading codec. In both the press release and the blog post trumpeting the deal, Google said it believes “high-quality video compression technology should be a part of the web platform” - and that On2 is a way of achieving that goal.

Asked to comment on the new report from NewTeeVee, a Google spokesman said the company has nothing to announce at this time. ""We're excited to be working with the On2 team to continue to improve the video experience on the web," a company spokesman told us. Read more...