A video file format from Google that is one of the native formats in HTML5. Based on a Matroska profile, WebM was introduced in 2010 with support for the VP8 video and Ogg Vorbis audio codecs. In 2013, VP9 video and Opus audio were added. See
Matroska,
Ogg Vorbis and
HTML5. For the still image counterpart, see
WebP.
VP8 Video Codec
WebM acts as a container for the VP8 and VP9 open source compression methods. Originally from On2 Technologies, VP8 was turned into a royalty-free product after Google acquired the company in 2010.
While maintaining visual quality, VP8 can deeply compress video; for example, a raw 323MB SD file can be compressed to 1.9MB, and it can be decoded in low-power platforms such as smartphones and tablets. See
On2.
VP9 and VP10
Introduced in 2013, VP9 uses more sophisticated compression methods than VP8, somewhat similar to HEVC (H.265), and it supports parallel processing. VP9 features a 64x64 pixel "superblock" that can be subdivided into smaller blocks for compression.
VP10 was designed to reduce 4K transmission in half. However, it never came to fruition and was incorporated into AV1, along with elements from Xiph/Mozilla's Daala and Cisco's Thor (see
AV1). See
HEVC.