Ooyala Joins the WebM Project and Adopts VP8 Support

WebM and the Open Sourcing of VP8 is Supported by Major Industry Leaders

MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif. — Ooyala, a leading provider of video applications and services, today announced that it is working with Google, Mozilla, Opera, YouTube and other major software and hardware manufacturers to support the WebM project and open sourcing of VP8.

“Open and unfettered access to a high quality codec will help accelerate the adoption of video delivered over the Web to all devices”
The WebM project lets developers innovate with — and deploy — high-quality video technology on a flexible, efficient and open video framework. Ooyala has now added VP8 encoding to its supported codecs.

VP8 is a high-performance video codec optimized to deliver a top-quality video experience to connected devices. The WebM project gives developers, publishers and end-users the following benefits:

• Open Source: WebM will help Ooyala innovate with high-quality video compression technology.
• Flexibility: Consumers want access to the same high-quality video content and experiences on all of their Web video devices. WebM is flexible by design to provide high-quality video across various resolutions and bitrates. It’s designed to work on systems ranging from low-powered DSPs to multiple core PC processes.
• Efficiency: WebM’s openness means it can keep pace with developments in real-time streaming, point-to-point communication and teleconferencing, increasing resolutions and frame rates, and other nascent technologies.
• Speed: WebM is optimized for Web and network video delivery. It is designed to start playing videos quickly, as well as fast-seeking within videos.
• Computational Efficiency: Smooth video playback on low-power devices like net-books and mobile phones is critical. Users want hours of playing time between battery charges on these devices.

“A key factor in the Web’s success is that its core technologies are open and freely implementable. Video is fundamental to the Web experience, and developers and content publishers need an open video format option,” said Mike Jazayeri, Group Product Manager at Google. “We are excited Ooyala is joining a broad coalition of industry leaders supporting the WebM project to bring a new era of open innovation in Web video.”

“Open and unfettered access to a high quality codec will help accelerate the adoption of video delivered over the Web to all devices,” says Bismarck Lepe, Co-founder and President of Products at Ooyala. “Supporting VP8 and the WebM project is in line with our mission to make it easy for content owners and creators to deliver a targeted media experience to all consumers — independent of video device, format or codec. We are excited to be taking part in this initiative, one that will be a formative cornerstone of a more open media landscape.”

Ooyala publishers can begin using the new codec immediately.