Play HTML5 Videos in Internet Explorer

Internet Explorer is one of the several mainstream browsers which do not support HTML5 videos which is now being beta tested by YouTube and Vimeo. However, what Microsoft could not do yet has been done by a codec developer.

The software in question, Xiph.Org Ogg Codec provides users with an option to add support for the <video> tag in Internet Explorer, in turn allowing IE to play HTML5 videos.

html5_videos_internet_explorer

I installed the codec and enabled the HTML5 support, and gave it a test run on Internet Explorer 8. The videos from YouTube played just fine, however, it is not a perfect solution yet and a bit buggy. Some videos took way too long to load, and some never played at all. Nevertheless, something is better than nothing right?

html5_video_internet_explorer

Note: Before you can view HTML5 videos in YouTube, you will have to join the beta club by visiting this link http://www.youtube.com/html5. After that you will have to copy the <video> code to a new HTML page to watch the video and follow the instructions given here.

Techie Buzz Verdict

This software is not perfect yet, so use it at your own risk. Another problem I saw was that the software did not provide an option to disable HTML5 videos once it was installed, so the only way to disable it is to uninstall the software. Once it is enabled, you will not be able to watch videos on YouTube due to the restrictions with adding a additional attribute to the video code.

Again, this is a tool which is still being developed, so I think that it will definitely become better with time. However, if you are someone who does not like to mess up with things, stay away from it.

I would suggest you to download and use Google Chrome instead, if you are looking forward to experiencing HTML5 videos.

Rating: 2.5/5 (Average)

Download Xiph.Org Ogg Codec [via Download Squad]

TAGS: Freeware, HTML5, HTML5 Video, Internet Tools

Play HTML5 Videos in Internet Explorer originally appeared on Techie Buzz written by Keith Dsouza on Monday 22nd February 2010 11:24:41 PM. Please read the Terms of Use for fair usage guidance.