GDD HTML5, Flash, and the Battle for Faster Cat Videos

HTML5, Flash and the Battle forFaster Cat VideosBy YouTubes Greg Schechter, Phil Harnish andMatt Ward

Greg Schechter Phil Harnish Matt WardThe Web Warrior Sr. Play Button Seek Bar Eng Engineer schechter@google. mattward@google. com philharnish@google.com com

HTML + JS + CSS + Awesomeness

HTML5Offline File Access Multimedia Performance Presentation Graphics Storage

Translation

HTML5 ~= By geishaboy500 http://www.flickr.com/photos/geishaboy500/3183872667/

99% connected desktop penetration? http://www.adobe.com/products/player_census/flashplayer/

Why HTML5?

HTML5 vs FlashFeatures Accessibility "Device-ability" Security Embeds API

Round 1: Features http://www.flickr. com/photos/zipckr/4624150058/

Why Flash?Features missing in HTML5● Content protection

Why Flash?Features missing in HTML5● Content protection ○ RTMPE protocol / Flash Access

Why Flash?Features missing in HTML5● Content protection ○ RTMPE protocol / Flash Access● Camera & Microphone Access

Why Flash?Features missing in HTML5● Content protection ○ RTMPE protocol / Flash Access● Camera & Microphone Access● Adaptive & Live Streaming

Why Flash?Features missing in HTML5● Content protection ○ RTMPE protocol / Flash Access● Camera & Microphone Access● Adaptive & Live Streaming● Fullscreen video

Why Flash?Features missing in HTML5● Content protection ○ RTMPE protocol / Flash Access● Camera & Microphone Access● Adaptive & Live Streaming● Fullscreen video ○ Hardware accelerated HD cat videos! ○ **API available in webkit and gecko

Why Flash?Mozilla Fullscreen APIvar elem = document.getElementById("my-element");document.onmozfullscreenchange = function() {// The fullscreen element:// document.mozFullScreenElement;console.log ("We went fullscreen!");};elem.mozRequestFullScreen();

Why Flash?Features missing in HTML5● Content protection ○ RTMPE protocol / Flash Access● Camera & Microphone Access● Adaptive & Live Streaming● Fullscreen video ○ HD, hardware accelerated cat videos! ○ **API available in webkit and gecko

Why Flash?Features missing in HTML5● Content protection ○ RTMPE protocol / Flash Access● Camera & Microphone Access● Adaptive & Live Streaming● Fullscreen video ○ HD, hardware accelerated cat videos! ○ **API available in webkit and gecko● Consistent format support

Why Flash?Features missing in HTML5● Content protection ○ RTMPE protocol / Flash Access● Camera & Microphone Access● Adaptive & Live Streaming● Fullscreen video ○ HD, hardware accelerated cat videos! ○ **API available in webkit and gecko● Consistent format support ○ HTML5 needs to support both H.264 and WebM

Why Flash?Features missing in HTML5● Content protection ○ RTMPE protocol / Flash Access● Camera & Microphone Access● Adaptive & Live Streaming● Fullscreen video ○ HD, hardware accelerated cat videos! ○ **API available in webkit and gecko● Consistent format support ○ HTML5 needs to support both H.264 and WebM● Cross platform consistency****

Why HTML5?<video> Expectations● Open source technology ○ Browser / Player / Codec

Why HTML5?<video> Expectations● Open source technology ○ Browser / Player / Codec● Lower latency ○ No plug-in instantiation

Why HTML5?<video> Expectations● Open source technology ○ Browser / Player / Codec● Lower latency ○ No plug-in instantiation● Better performance and fidelity

Why HTML5?<video> Expectations● Open source technology ○ Browser / Player / Codec● Lower latency ○ No plug-in instantiation● Better performance and fidelity● Accessibility

Why HTML5?<video> Expectations http://imgs.xkcd.com/comics/in_ur_reality.png

Why HTML5?<video> Expectations● Open source technology ○ Browser / Player / Codec● Lower latency ○ No plug-in instantiation● Better performance and fidelity● Accessibility ○ User agents can have special video handling

Please put on your 3D Glasses

By jmettrauxhttp://www.flickr.com/photos/jmettraux/4959258811/

Why HTML5?3D● Flash ○ Build for graphics ○ Tools for easy video manipulation ■ HTML5 would require WebGL or Canvas● HTML5 ○ Easy integration with browser and devices ○ Open Standard ○ Allows for innovations by the browser vendors as well as YouTube

Round 2: Device-abilityBy dakinyhttp://www.flickr.com/photos/dakiny/4430765149/

Why HTML5?HTML5 Capable Browsers (~60%)

Why HTML5?Flash Support vs. HTML5 Support

Why HTML5?YouTube Data API Usage for Flash vs. HTML5 Devices

Why HTML5?

When HTML5?

Primary Goal:Recover playbacks that would be lost without flash

Our Solution

<iframe type="text/html" width="640" height="385" frameborder="0" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/VIDEO_ID" allowfullscreen></iframe>

When HTML5?<iframe> Embed● Give the user HTML5 or Flash based on device and user preferences.● Allows for better mobile support.● Offers an "it just works" experience.

Why an iframe?Other embedding methods● <script> ○ We need our content to be sandboxed ○ More than just a video tag● <object> ○ Can load content with the data attribute ○ But no way to interact with it

When HTML5?When does the user get HTML5?

When HTML5? Detecting HTML5var videoElement = document.createElement(video);if (videoElement && videoElement.canPlayType && (videoElement.canPlayType(video/mp4; codecs="avc1.42001E, mp4a.40.2") || videoElement.canPlayType(video/webm; codecs="vp8.0, vorbis"))) { // Sweet, we can use HTML5!}

When HTML5?When does the user get HTML5?

Round 3: PerformanceBy Two Hawks Eyehttp://www.flickr.com/photos/mycoolpics/92033686/

Player Start TimeFlash 500msHTML5 (Up from 200ms in Jan 2011) TODO(schechter): Add csi screen captures

iframe Embed Time Till Thumbnail VisibleFlash - 5.1sHTML5 - 1.4s *Collected data shows faster load times than this control environment, but the comparison is actuate.

Get Video Time

Get Video Time● HTML5: ○ Opera is Awesome ■ 200ms ahead of the pack● Flash: IE9 and Opera are the leaders ○ 300ms faster● HTML5 is almost always faster than Flash ○ 300ms - 400ms faster ○ IE9 is an exception ■ IE9 Flash is slightly faster than IE9 HTML5

Video Start TimeHTML5Flash 2.5s

Video Start TimeHTML5Flash 2.5s ● Firefox closest to catching Flash ○ HTML5 ~1.0s slower than Flash

So why is Flash so fast?

Make Assumptions

Making Assumptions● Most users have a recent version of flash● Thus we can optimistically embed the most common case and do version checking and updating after a script loads● 250ms improvement to flash start time

Preload Video Connection

Preload Video Connection ● Resolves DNS while page is rendering ● Maintains an open connection ● 200ms improvement<head> <script> var img = new Image(); img.src = videoConnectionUrl; </script></head>

What about embeds?

#1 cache

1. youtube.com/v/di5I49yg7bY 302 redirect2. s.ytimg.com/swf/l.swf?args&swf=swf2-hash_url.swf3. s.ytimg.com/swf/swf2-hash_url.swf ~150kb

1. youtube.com/v/di5I49yg7bY 302 2. s.ytimg.com/swf/l.swf?args&swf=swf2-hash_url.swf 3. s.ytimg.com/swf/swf2-hash_url.swfBetter 1. youtube.com/v/di5I49yg7bY application/x-shockwave-flash 2. s.ytimg.com/swf/swf2-hash_url.swf

1. youtube.com/v/di5I49yg7bY 302 2. s.ytimg.com/swf/l.swf?args&swf=swf2-hash_url.swf 3. s.ytimg.com/swf/swf2-hash_url.swf 1. youtube.com/v/di5I49yg7bY application/x-shockwave-flash 2. s.ytimg.com/swf/swf2-hash_url.swfBest 1. youtube.com/embed/di5I49yg7bY text/html 2. s.ytimg.com/swf/swf2-hash_url.swf

#2 lazy load

Most embeds are never played.

● Delay expensive queries.● Use cache for most videos.● Delay loading... flash?

Demo:http://gregthebusker.com/iframedemo.html

Player APIhttp://code.google.com/apis/youtube/getting_started.html#player_apis

The JavaScript APICommunication

The JavaScript APICommunication● Poll the URL fragment? http://youtube.com/embed/video_id#fragment

The JavaScript API Communication ● Poll the URL fragment?http://youtube.com/embed/video_id#fragment ● Messages are one dimensional. ● Polling eats up CPU and is not instant. ● Both directions of communication use the same fragment.

The JavaScript API Communication ● Better idea: PostMessage API.someWindow.postMessage(message, targetOrigin);

The JavaScript API Communication ● Better idea: PostMessage API.someWindow.postMessage(message, targetOrigin); ● Uses JSON for native encoding and decoding of data. ● No polling. ● Native event listeners. ● Communications are sandboxed per-window. ● Calls are asynchronous.

Conclusion● Flash is still preferred in most places ○ More critical features ○ Deeper reach● HTML5 is awesome ○ Improves every day ○ Greater mobile reach ○ People want it

Questions? can haz question? By cloudzilla http://www.flickr.com/photos/cloudzilla/378829651/schechter@google.commattward@google.comphilharnish@google.com