Adaptive Bitrate support in HTML5 cited as factor in the switch from Flash
YouTube began testing simultaneous support for both Flash and HTML5 video delivery back in 2010, but Flash has continued to be the default in most cases unless users opted into an HTML5 only beta -- until now. YouTube announced today on their developer blog it will now default to utilizing the HTML5 video tag on certain web browsers.
The announcement discusses some of the previous limitations that kept HTML5 from usurping Flash from the front of the proverbial line. While it isn't discussed in the post, Flash's security issues, most notably pointed out five years ago by Steve Jobs in his essay "Thoughts on Flash," are likely to have played a part. One of the points in HTML5's favor is its widespread use insmart television sets and streaming devices. Related to that, the primary reason given was a lack of Adaptive Bitrate (ABR) support, which reduces buffering.
ABR is part of the suite of MediaSource Extensions, which enables live streaming on game consoles and devices such as the Chromecast, in addition to standard web browsers. YouTube reports that ABR reduces buffering by over 50 percent globally, and 80 percent on "heavily-congested networks."
While the default will become the HTML5 video tag, diminishing the Flash object tag, Youtube's iframe tag API will automatically detect whether Flash or HTML5 is supported by the client, and utilize the correct technology. HTML5 will be the default on YouTube if the site is accessed using Chrome, IE 11, Safari 8, and current beta versions of Firefox.
Read more: http://www.electronista.com/articles/15/01/27/adaptive.bitrate.support.in.html5.cited.as.factor.in.the.switch.from.flash/#ixzz3QDhuFOSB
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