Google’s YouTube unit has announced support for HTML5 videos on the YouTube platform.
In a Jan. 20 post on Broadcasting Ourselves, the official YouTube blog, the YouTube team announced the introduction of an experimental version of an HTML5-supported player.
“Although limited to non-monetized, non-annotated videos, we’re excited about what HTML5 means to the overall YouTube experience,” said Chris Dale, a spokesman for YouTube, in a notice to the media.
According to the YouTube team blog:
““HTML5 is a new web standard that is gaining popularity rapidly and adds many new features to your web experience. Most notably for YouTube users, HTML5 includes support for video and audio playback. This means that users with an HTML5 compatible browser, and support for the proper audio and video codecs can watch a video without needing to download a browser plug-in.”“
Moreover, “Our support for HTML5 is an early experiment, and there are some limitations,” the YouTube team post said. “HTML5 on YouTube doesn’t support videos with ads, captions, or annotations and it requires a browser that supports both the video tag and h.264 encoded video (currently that means Chrome, Safari, and ChromeFrame on Internet Explorer). We will be expanding the capabilities of the player in the future, so get ready for new and improved versions in the months to come.”
Dale said the YouTube team was scheduled to release the HTML5-supported player as of 5 p.m. PT on Jan. 20 and followed up his notice saying: “The engineering team is in the process of pushing HTML5 support live, so it should be available in the next hour or two.”
Developers wishing to check out YouTube’s HTML5 support can do so via TestTube or this demo site.
“We are very excited about HTML5 as an open standard and want to be part of moving HTML5 forward on the web,” the YouTube post said.