Adobe brings high definition to Flash videos

Adobe Systems intends to add support for a video compression standard that will bring high-definition video to Flash-based streaming content on the web.

The company on Tuesday is expected to announce the release of a beta version of its Flash Player, code-named Moviestar, that adds support for H.264, the video compression portion of the MPEG 4 standard.

The updated Flash Player will also be able to take advantage of hardware acceleration in most PCs' graphics cards and is optimised for dual-core processors, said Mark Randall, chief strategist for dynamic media at Adobe. It will support HE-AAC version 2, a more efficient audio compression standard that is also part of MPEG 4.

The new features will be made available in the autumn as part of an update to Flash Player 9.

Support for the H.264 standard will lead to more web video content being available in high definition, Randall said. He said Adobe chose to support the standard now because it is being adopted more by content producers and media distributors such as cable companies.

Flash is a de facto standard for streaming video used by YouTube and other high-volume websites.

But Microsoft is challenging Flash's dominance in web video with Silverlight. Microsoft has signed on large video publishers to use Silverlight, including MLB.com.

Silverlight supports Windows Media Audio and Video and another video compression standard based on Windows Media called VC-1. Microsoft has not announced plans to support H.264, but a representative said the company could add support based on customer feedback.

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