[whatwg] <video> application/octet-stream

[Philip Jägenstedt]

On Mon, 19 Jul 2010 14:56:09 +0200, Robert O'Callahan  
<robert at ocallahan.org> wrote:

> On Mon, Jul 19, 2010 at 11:20 PM, Philip Jägenstedt  
> <philipj at opera.com>wrote:
>
>>
>> http://www.whatwg.org/specs/web-apps/current-work/multipage/video.html#mime-types
>>
>> There was some discussion about this, last in <
>> http://lists.whatwg.org/htdig.cgi/whatwg-whatwg.org/2010-May/026409.html>
>>
>> I've tested Firefox 3.6.4, Firefox 4.0b1 and Chrome 5.0.375.99 and none
>> return "maybe" for canPlayType("application/octet-stream"). I couldn't  
>> get
>> meaningful results from Safari on Windows (requires restart to detect
>> QuickTime, perhaps?).
>>
>
>> It would appear that Opera is the only browser that supports
>> application/octet-stream. At the time I added this, it was simply  
>> because it
>> is true, maybe we can play it. However, I see no practical benefit of  
>> this
>> spec-wise or implementation-wise. Since no other browsers have  
>> implemented
>> it, I am going to remove it from Opera and hope that the spec will be
>> changed to match this.
>>
>
> I actually think we should add support for application/octet-stream media
> resources to Firefox, and if we're going to do that then I think we  
> should
> be consistent and return "maybe" for canPlayType too. So I don't think  
> you
> should remove this.
>
> Rob

Simon Pieters found this:  
<https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=546129>

 From this bug report and the previous discussions I got the impression  
that the <video> developers at Mozilla don't want application/octet-stream  
as it implicitly requires sniffing after getting through the canPlayType  
whitelist.

If there's any practical benefit of supporting application/octet-stream  
and other browsers will match Opera, then I can of course simply leave  
things as they are. Will Mozilla change, then?

I'd also be interested to hear from Chrome developers, as they seem to  
play application/octet-stream but not report that in canPlayType, which  
strikes me as a bit odd.

-- 
Philip Jägenstedt
Core Developer
Opera Software