Adobe Systems intends to add support for the H.264 video codec, bringing high-definition video to Flash-based streaming content on the Web, for less bandwidth.

The updated Flash Player, code-named Moviestar, will be available for download later in the day as a beta, with a final version to be ready in the third quarter, Adobe said. Moviestar will be able to take advantage of hardware acceleration in most PCs' graphics cards and will also support HE-AAC version 2, a more efficient audio compression standard.

“We wanted to make sure that we would offer the best possible choices to them and set a signal that we are willing to embrace industry standards,” Tinic Uro, an Adobe engineer who works on the Flash Player, said. “No one believed that we would make this happen.”
With this latest move, Adobe is finally joining many content producers and media distributors that have embraced the standard. Apple has been a big proponent of the format for some time now, with every video sold in the iTunes Store encoded in it, and working with YouTube to encode their videos in H.264 for playback on the Apple TV.