sanity check - mp4 only video file now needed- Firefox uses mp4 now as well

Question

I need a sanity check- as I understand it, Firefox now supports mp4 video, so only one type of video file is needed by html5 players, ie no more:

src="movie.mp4" type="video/mp4" src="movie.ogg" type="video/ogg"

Just src="movie.mp4" type="video/mp4"

(I am going to use videojs).

I checked also on http://caniuse.com/#feat=mpeg4

Answer 1

Unfortunately, I don't think it is this simple - this link from Mozilla gives the best up to date picture in my experience, but as you are aware things change constantly so it is worth checking several sources:

• https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/HTML/Supported_media_formats

You also need to be aware of some subtleties even when mp4 is supported:

• older and lower powered mobile devices will often only support the base profile of mp4.
• You may also want to 'package' your mp4 file in an adaptive bit rate container to allow the browser/client select an appropriate bit rate for the current network conditions. If so you need to look at the different options - Apple's HLS, Microsoft's Smooth streaming, Adobe's Adaptive Streaming and the open cross browser MPEG-DASH format which is gaining bigger footprint now.
• If you want to DRM protect your video you get into a whole new compatibility discussion as different browsers support different DRM technologies. CENC and DASH are the industry standards to address this so it is worth taking a look at them if you do have to support DRM and want to see the way the industry is supposedly leaning.

Some links for CENC and DASH:

• https://w3c.github.io/encrypted-media/cenc-format.html
• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dynamic_Adaptive_Streaming_over_HTTP