Google pushes VP9 codec at developer conference

Google took the opportunity at its annual developer conference to push its next royalty-free video codec, VP9, CNET reported. Work on the technology is expected to be finished next month, at which point Google's Chrome and YouTube will begin using it, according to a recent update to a WebM discussion group.

VP9 engineers walked developers through some of the technology and described how it stands up to H.264 and VP8 this week.

That's a bit of a false dichotomy, as H.264 successor HEVC, also known as H.265, is expected to double that codec's efficiency--meaning it will fit twice the resolution into the same amount of bits. Google has said VP9 achieves similar improvements over H.264 and VP8.

Earlier this year, Google and MPEG LA, a licensing body that pools patents for standards and other technology platforms, agreed to a licensing deal covering most of the technology in VP8 and providing for sublicensing in "one next-generation VPx video codec," the companies said in March. But Nokia's patents in the area were not covered by that deal, and the company remains convinced VP8 infringes on its intellectual property, according to CNET.

For more:
- see the CNET story
- read the Android Authority story
- check out the MPEG LA press release
- see the WebM discussion group update

Related articles:
YouTube now encoding all video uploads to WebM
Codec Wars: Google Chrome will drop native H.264 support