Twitch, the extremely popular website mostly dedicated to video game streaming, has announced that they have begun transitioning away from Flash in favor of HTML5 and JavaScript for their video player.
The first step in this process is to swap out Flash-based video player controls in favor of an HTML5 solution. This new video player still uses Flash for the underlying video, but the controls are now built entirely in HTML5 and JavaScript. Twitch says this is "an important step to releasing the much-anticipated full HTML5 player."
There's currently no timeframe on when Twitch will switch to an entirely HTML5-based video player, but they are clearly working on a Flash-free solution behind the scenes. For now, the website is gradually rolling out the new video player with HTML5 controls firstly on channel pages, and then across the entire site to all users.
Twitch is one of many companies exploring HTML5 options for their multimedia content, following widespread security, stability and compatibility issues with Flash that have prompted the industry to prepare its funeral. YouTube, for example, made their HTML5 player the default option on their website in January this year after the company reached feature-parity with the now-depreciated Flash player.
There are still a few hurdles to be overcome before Flash can be killed off for good, such as concerns with HTML5's inefficiency at rendering video compared with Flash's current implementation. Many web-based games also still use Flash, and although there are game-suitable replacements for Flash currently available, they're not currently in widespread use.
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