The BBC is to commence the encoding of video content on the iPlayer in H.264 at 800 kbps following recent upgrades to the Adobe Flash player. At the same time it is moving the soundtrack to its video content to AAC+, the new compression technology, capable of delivering better sound at a lower bitrate.
The introduction of H.264 to the online catch-up service will take place in two phases. Initially the content will be created in both the established On2 VP6, run at a bitrate of 500 Kbps, and the H.264 formats. The default will be On2, though the higher quality H.264 version is suitable for connection speeds over and above 1 Mbps. An auto detect function will be introduced in September.
The H.264 option will only be available to those who have the latest version of Flash downloaded. The BBC says that this now represents some 80% of iPlayer users.
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