Mozilla Bringing WebM To Firefox 4

Mozilla is bringing the WebM video codec to Firefox 4. According to the company’s own Robert O’Callahan, they have managed to get around the codec’s licensing compatibility issues with their open-source GPL licensing.

The WebM format for those unfamiliar with the technology is based off the VP8 video codec which was purchased by Google in 2009 as a royalty-free alternative to H.264 technology for HTML5 video.

Google has made that technology open-source since its purchase and WebM is already available in beta form on the Chrome browser. WebM will also be supported on the upcoming IE9 browser.

Firefox 4 will arrive sometime this month with the new technology ready to go out of the box. [Via ReadWriteWeb]