Today Google and the MPEG LA jointly announced a licensing agreement with 11 companies to protect all users of the VP8 video codec. With the agreement in place, developers can make great sites with WebM without fear of legal retribution.

As a quick refresher, MPEG LA licenses the patents needed for many common, proprietary video codecs, like H.264. Meanwhile, Google has been promoting the VP8 video codec as part of its WebM project to produce unencumbered video technology for the web.

Firefox already ships VP8, and we hope VP8 will be adopted for new and emerging technologies like WebRTC. With a free and open video codec, we can focus on ways to use it to make the web even more awesome.