Video Breakthroughs

The older VP8 hasn't taken the world by storm, but VP9 could give Google a fresh start in its attempt to popularize royalty-free video streaming.

VP9, the successor to Google's VP8 video compression technology at the center of a techno-political controversy, has made its first appearance outside Google's walls.

Google has built VP9 support into Chrome, though only in an early-stage version of the browser for developers. In another change, it also added support for the new Opus audio compression technology that's got the potential to improve voice communications and music streaming on the Internet.