Is Google trying to find ways to make YouTube videos less bandwidth intensive, and bring higher quality video to the Web?

 

Well Wednesday’s acquisition of On2 Technologies might just lead the way. On2 is one of the leading developers of video compression technology, and this move has set tongues wagging on whether Google plans to get higher quality videos on YouTube or on Google Videos.

 

According to Digital Trends, On2’s video codecs can use up to 40% less bandwidth than YouTube’s current H.264 open format. Lower bandwidth usage on YouTube videos can save Google a bundle, as millions of YouTube videos are viewed daily (or if TechCrunch is to be believed 1.2 billion videos per day). Although the saving for Internet users might not be much when streaming the short, low quality video found on YouTube, it becomes considerable when high quality video is involved.