A few months ago I switched our TimedMediaHandler's config to support the newer, more bandwidth-efficient VP9/Opus variant of WebM and to use these preferably over the older VP8/Vorbis version when creating scaled, playback-ready derivatives.
(This does not affect upload support -- you may continue to upload video files in WebM VP9, WebM VP8, or Ogg Theora formats, with either Vorbis or Opus audio.)
Conversions of existing files on Commons ran in the background for some weeks, finishing in November. I'm now running a final pass for high-resolution files and any files on other wikis that didn't get a conversion yet, in preparation for removing the VP8 derivatives in the next couple of weeks to free storage space.
This should have relatively little visible effect for users, unless someone is relying on the particular derivative files with extensions like ".360p.webm"; the new versions are named like ".360p.vp9.webm".
Note that IE 11 users using the "WebM Media Foundation Components for IE https://www.webmproject.org/ie/" will not be able to play back the new VP9/Opus files natively, as this driver has never been updated for VP9 or Opus. IE 11 users will receive low-resolution, slow JavaScript-based video playback instead. If you find this is troublesome, the recommended solution is to switch to any other browser.
Third-party MediaWiki + TimedMediaHandler users should be aware that the defaults are changing, and in future the VP8-specific support and code paths may be removed. TimedMediaHandler will probably change a lot in the coming months with upcoming WebVTT subtitle format, a streamlined videojs-based player, and hopefully more!
-- brion
On Mon, Jan 28, 2019 at 12:22 PM Brion Vibber via Commons-l < [email protected]> wrote:
IE 11 users will receive low-resolution, slow JavaScript-based video playback instead. If you find this is troublesome, the recommended solution is to switch to any other browser.
Will they get a warning that they should try another browser? This seems like a sensible limitation, as long as the user has a chance of figuring out why they are being limited.
On Mon, 4 Feb 2019 at 22:26, Gergo Tisza via Commons-l [email protected] wrote:
Will they get a warning that they should try another browser?
Eh at some point these year I suspect most will be getting a warning they should switch to a new operating system.
On Mon, Feb 4, 2019, 2:26 PM Gergo Tisza <[email protected] wrote:
On Mon, Jan 28, 2019 at 12:22 PM Brion Vibber via Commons-l < [email protected]> wrote:
IE 11 users will receive low-resolution, slow JavaScript-based video playback instead. If you find this is troublesome, the recommended solution is to switch to any other browser.
Will they get a warning that they should try another browser? This seems like a sensible limitation, as long as the user has a chance of figuring out why they are being limited.
Yeah, I could have it detect sub-par JS playback performance and display an explanation in an overlay recommending a more modern browser. Will file a task to improve this experience...
-- brion