Google splashes cash on video-compression firm

 

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By Stuart Turton

Posted on 6 Aug 2009 at 08:37

Google will splash $106.5 million on On2 Technologies, a company which specialises in video compression technology.

On2's technology can dramatically shrink video file sizes and the company already counts Adobe, Skype, Sony, Nokia and Sun among its customers.

However, Google admits it wasn't the money that attracted it to On2 - the company lost $51 million last year - but the technology, which it is now expected to open source.

"We believe high quality video should be part of the web platform," says Sundar Pichai at Google.

"We are committed to innovation in video quality on the web, and we believe that On2's team and technology will help us further that goal," he adds.

The search giant is expected to integrate On2's compression technology into Chrome, which alongside support for open-source video standards could one-day help wean the browser off proprietary video plug ins such as Flash and Silverlight.

The technology is also expected to find its way into YouTube, allowing the service to improve its high-definition video offering.