On its Chrome blog (http://macte.ch/qFtik), Google says it's ending support for H.264 on its Chrome browser, opting instead for the WebM (VP8) and Theora video codecs.

"We expect even more rapid innovation in the web media platform in the coming year and are focusing our investments in those technologies that are developed and licensed based on open web principles," Google writes. "To that end, we are changing Chrome’s HTML5 support to make it consistent with the codecs already supported by the open Chromium project. Specifically, we are supporting the WebM (VP8) and Theora video codecs, and will consider adding support for other high-quality open codecs in the future. Though H.264 plays an important role in video, as our goal is to enable open innovation, support for the codec will be removed and our resources directed towards completely open codec technologies."

This seems to be setting up a new battle. Apple supports the non-Flash version of H.264. The H.264 codec is owned by the MPEG-LA consortium, which has promised that H.264 streaming would be free forever but only for non-commercial Internet video.

The H.264/AVC codec was jointly developed by the Moving Picture Experts Group (MPEG) and the International Telecommunication Union (ITU). H.264 is used in such applications as players for Blu-ray Discs, videos from YouTube and the iTunes Store, web software such as the Adobe Flash Player and Microsoft Silverlight, broadcast services for DVB and SBTVD, direct-broadcast satellite television services, cable television services, and real-time videoconferencing.