- Web developers can control Picture-in-Picture for videos.
- AV1 decoder is now supported in Chrome Desktop x86-64.
- Cross-codec and cross-bytestream buffering and playback is possible in MSE.
- Chrome now supports Opus in MP4 with MSE.
- Protected content playback is allowed by default on Android.
Watch video using Picture-in-Picture
Picture-in-Picture (PiP) allows users to watch videos in a floating window (always on top of other windows) so they can keep an eye on what they’re watching while interacting with other sites, or applications. With the new Picture-in-Picture Web API, you can initiate and control Picture-in-Picture for videos on your website.
Read our article to learn all about it.
AV1 decoder
AV1 is a next generation codec developed by the Alliance for Open Media. AV1 improves compression efficiency by greater than 30% over the current state-of-the-art video codec, VP9. Chrome 70 adds an AV1 decoder to Chrome Desktop x86-64 based on the official bitstream specification. At this time, support is limited to “Main” profile 0 and does not include encoding capabilities. The supported container is MP4 (ISO-BMFF) (see From raw video to web ready for a brief explanation of containers).
To try AV1:
- Go to the YouTube TestTube page.
- Select "Prefer AV1 for SD" or "Always Prefer AV1" to get the desired AV1 resolution. Note that at higher resolutions, AV1 is more likely to experience playback performance issues on some devices.
- Try playing YouTube clips from the AV1 Beta Launch Playlist.
- Confirm the codec av01 in "Stats for nerds".
Support for codec and container switching in MSE
Chrome is adding support for improved cross-codec or cross-bytestream
transitions in Media Source Extensions playback using a new
changeType() method on SourceBuffer. It allows the type of media
bytes appended to the SourceBuffer to be changed afterwards.
The current version of MSE supports
adaptive playback of media; however adaptation requires that any media appended
to a SourceBuffer must conform to the MIME type provided when initially
creating the SourceBuffer via MediaSource.addSourceBuffer(type). Codecs
from that type and any previously parsed initialization segments must remain
the same throughout. This means the website has to take explicit steps to
accomplish codec or bytestream switching (by using multiple media elements or
SourceBuffer tracks and switching among those), increasing application
complexity and user-visible latency. (Such transitions require the web app to
take synchronous action on the renderer main thread). This transition latency
impairs the smoothness of media playback across transitions.
With its new changeType() method, a SourceBuffer can buffer and support
playback across different bytestream formats and codecs. This new method
retains previously buffered media, modulo future MSE coded frame eviction or
removal, and leverages the splicing and buffering logic in the existing MSE
coded frame processing algorithm.
Here's how to use the changeType() method:
const sourceBuffer = myMediaSource.addSourceBuffer('video/webm; codecs="opus, vp09.00.10.08"');
sourceBuffer.appendBuffer(someWebmOpusVP9Data);
// Later on...
if ('changeType' in sourceBuffer) {
// Change source buffer type and append new data.
sourceBuffer.changeType('video/mp4; codecs="mp4a.40.5, avc1.4d001e"');
sourceBuffer.appendBuffer(someMp4AacAvcData);
}
As expected, if the passed type is not supported by the browser, this method
throws a NotSupportedError exception.
Check out the sample to play with cross-codec and cross-bytestream buffering and playback of an audio element.
Intent to Ship | Chromestatus Tracker | Chromium Bug
Opus in MP4 for MSE
The open and highly versatile audio codec Opus has been supported in the
<audio> and <video> elements since Chrome 33. Opus in ISO-BMFF support
(aka Opus in MP4) was added after. And now Opus in MP4 is available in Chrome
70 for Media Source Extensions.
Here's how you can detect if Opus in MP4 is supported for MSE:
if (MediaSource.isTypeSupported('audio/mp4; codecs="opus"')) {
// TODO: Fetch data and feed it to a media source.
}
If you want to see a full example, check out our official sample.
Due to lack of tools to mux Opus in MP4 with correct end trimming and preskip
values, if such precision is important to you, you'll need to use
SourceBuffer.appendWindow{Start,End} and SourceBuffer.timestampOffset in
Chrome to obtain sample-accurate playback.
Intent to Ship | Chromestatus Tracker | Chromium Bug
Allow protected content playback by default on Android
In Chrome 70 for Android, the default value of the “protected content” site setting changes from “Ask first” to “Allowed”, lowering the friction associated with playback of such media. This change is possible, in part, because of additional steps taken to clear media licenses alongside cookies and site data, ensuring that media licenses are not used by sites to track users who have cleared browsing data.
