1860492 - Investigate removing Theora support

Status: RESOLVED FIXED

(Core :: Audio/Video: Playback, task)

Description

[Paul Adenot (:padenot)]

The Theora codec served us well, but isn't really used any more. When it's used, it's also not uncommon that it's higher in the <source> list compared to more modern codec, and it ends up picked instead of a codec that offers better compression or hardware acceleration (there never was a Theora hardware decoder shipped in Firefox). Sandboxing of Theora is quite good (via the RDD, it can never run in content processes), but the less code the better.

Theora currently accounts for ~0.09% of media resource loads in Firefox. Big services that had lots of Theora content (e.g. Wikipedia) have switched away from it and now use more modern codecs.

Chromium plans to remove entirely Theora from their implementation in version 123, there is some more information in https://chromestatus.com/feature/5158654475239424. This releases in March 2024, according to their release calendar. Chrome on Android and Safari never supported Theora. https://github.com/brion/ogv.js/ can be used to play Theora videos on the web if need be (this library is already in used on some websites).

The plan on our side is as follows:

• disable Theora in Firefox Nightly, fix lots of tests that rely on Theora, by converting the test vectors to e.g. vp9 when it makes sense, or removing the test otherwise. Removing Theora means that there is no video codec in OGG anymore in Firefox, and simplifies also the OGG demuxer. Historically, there's been more than one problem in our demuxers, so this is also good.
• add a bit of telemetry that pings back in the following situations:
  • media load failed -- the only source was a media containing a Theora track
  • media load succeeded, but the HTMLMediaElement had multiple <source> and a Theora source was higher than the list that the source that was eventually picked (we could check what codec was picked instead, but since all codecs are better than Theora I don't think it's super useful in practice, just for curiosity maybe)
• wait a couple cycles, maybe extend this to "early beta", which is something like the first 3 or 4 beta of a beta cycle (to account for the population skews in nightly vs. beta vs. release of course)
• if all is fine (and it's probably going to be just fine), deprecate on the same timeline as Chromium's stable release

Comment 1

[hf]

ok, so Mozilla seems to follow the orders of Google again.

How about JPEG XL now?
It's adopted to web-platform-tests and Apple and Safari both want it.
https://connect.mozilla.org/t5/ideas/support-jpeg-xl/idi-p/18433/page/7#comments
Some Mozilla employee named Jon said that you will reconsider and then just ghosted it.

Comment 2

[BugBot [:suhaib / :marco/ :calixte]]

The severity field is not set for this bug.
:jimm, could you have a look please?

For more information, please visit BugBot documentation.

Comment 3

[Jim Mathies [:jimm]]

FYI - Early spring target for shipping this to release.

Comment 4

[Paul Adenot (:padenot)]

Attachment: Bug 1860492 - Add a pref to disable Theora playback, disable it on Nightly. r?#media-playback-reviewers

Comment 5

[Paul Adenot (:padenot)]

Attachment: Bug 1860492 - Remove theora usage from dom/media and dom/canvas. r?#media-playback-reviewers

Comment 6

[Paul Adenot (:padenot)]

Attachment: Bug 1860492 - Fix OGG specific tests. r?#media-playback-reviewers

Comment 7

[Paul Adenot (:padenot)]

Attachment: Bug 1860492 - Remove layout/reftests/ogg-video. r?emilio

OGG can only contain the theora video codec, and theora is being removed from
the Web. All of this have WebM versions in a directory alongside this (that I
converted from the OGG tests a while back).

Comment 8

[Paul Adenot (:padenot)]

Attachment: Bug 1860492 - Stop using theora in browser/base/content/test. r?gijs

The OGG Theora files have been replaced with functionally equivalent WebM
containing VP9.

Comment 9

[Paul Adenot (:padenot)]

Attachment: Bug 1860492 - Stop using theora files in toolkit/. r?mossop

Files containing theora have been modified to use VP9 in WebM, which is
equivalent for those tests, that only require a video with or without sound.

Comment 10

[Paul Adenot (:padenot)]

Attachment: Bug 1860492 - Stop using theora files in mobile/android/geckoview/src/androidTest/. r?#geckoview-reviewers

Files containing theora have been modified to use VP9 in WebM, which is
equivalent for those tests, that only require a video with or without sound.

Comment 11

[Paul Adenot (:padenot)]

Attachment: Bug 1860492 - Stop using theora files in tests in browser/. r?mossop

Files containing theora have been modified to use VP9 in WebM, which is
equivalent for those tests, that only require a video with or without sound.

Comment 12

[Paul Adenot (:padenot)]

Attachment: Bug 1860492 - Stop using theora files in tests in dom/html. r?smaug

Switched to using a functionally equivalent video.

Comment 13

[Paul Adenot (:padenot)]

Attachment: Bug 1860492 - Stop using theora files in dom/security. r?freddyb

Switch to using a functionally equivalent videos using the VP9 codec in WebM
container.

Comment 14

[Paul Adenot (:padenot)]

Attachment: Bug 1860492 - Adjust docs. r?#media-playback-reviewers

Comment 15

[Paul Adenot (:padenot)]

Attachment: Bug 1860492 - Stop using Theora files in WPT. r?jgraham

Comment 16

[Paul Adenot (:padenot)]

Attachment: Bug 1860492 - Stop using Theora files in WPT (Mozilla tests). r?jgraham

Comment 17

[Pulsebot]

Pushed by [e-mail]:
https://hg.mozilla.org/integration/autoland/rev/c8b6c53698f5
Add a pref to disable Theora playback, disable it on Nightly. r=media-playback-reviewers,alwu
https://hg.mozilla.org/integration/autoland/rev/a6d22d73c8a5
Remove theora usage from dom/media. r=media-playback-reviewers,jgilbert,alwu
https://hg.mozilla.org/integration/autoland/rev/fb667be5932d
Fix OGG specific tests. r=media-playback-reviewers,alwu
https://hg.mozilla.org/integration/autoland/rev/45d137c795f1
Remove layout/reftests/ogg-video. r=emilio
https://hg.mozilla.org/integration/autoland/rev/b34aacf0e966
Stop using theora in browser/base/content/test. r=Gijs
https://hg.mozilla.org/integration/autoland/rev/cf1230802d5c
Stop using theora files in toolkit/. r=mossop,anti-tracking-reviewers,timhuang
https://hg.mozilla.org/integration/autoland/rev/eeec1917ab49
Stop using theora files in mobile/android/geckoview/src/androidTest/. r=geckoview-reviewers,m_kato
https://hg.mozilla.org/integration/autoland/rev/40cee82fa090
Stop using theora files in tests in browser/. r=mossop,anti-tracking-reviewers,timhuang
https://hg.mozilla.org/integration/autoland/rev/d6a999866f19
Stop using theora files in tests in dom/html. r=smaug
https://hg.mozilla.org/integration/autoland/rev/cbcb811ca382
Stop using theora files in dom/security. r=freddyb
https://hg.mozilla.org/integration/autoland/rev/a5b2e4d12e44
Adjust docs. r=media-playback-reviewers,alwu
https://hg.mozilla.org/integration/autoland/rev/22a3235fe2dc
Stop using Theora files in WPT. r=jgraham
https://hg.mozilla.org/integration/autoland/rev/1b6bef229ce4
Stop using Theora files in WPT (Mozilla tests). r=jgraham

Comment 18

[Web Platform Test Sync Bot (Matrix: #interop:mozilla.org)]

Created web-platform-tests PR https://github.com/web-platform-tests/wpt/pull/45277 for changes under testing/web-platform/tests

Comment 19

[Serban Stanca [:SerbanS]]

Backed out for causing multiple failures

• Backout link

• Push with failures - mochitests failures

• Failure Log

• Failure line: TEST-UNEXPECTED-FAIL | browser/base/content/test/contextMenu/browser_contextmenu.js | Uncaught exception in test bound test_setup_html - at chrome://mochitests/content/browser/browser/base/content/test/contextMenu/browser_contextmenu.js:140 - TypeError: can't access property "loop", video is null

---

• Push with failures - gpu failures
• Failure Log
• Failure line: TEST-UNEXPECTED-FAIL | dom/canvas/test/crossorigin/test_video_crossorigin.html | changing the CORS mode should not allow reading data from remote videos

---

• Push with failures - wpt failures
• Failure Log
• Failure line: TEST-UNEXPECTED-FAIL | /css/css-sizing/aspect-ratio/replaced-element-003.html | Testing http://web-platform.test:8000/css/css-sizing/aspect-ratio/replaced-element-003.html == http://web-platform.test:8000/css/reference/ref-filled-green-100px-square.xht

---

• Push with failures - another mochitests failures
• Failure Log
• Failure line: TEST-UNEXPECTED-FAIL | dom/canvas/test/test_imagebitmap.html | Promise failure: InvalidStateError: An attempt was made to use an object that is not, or is no longer, usable

---

• Push with failures - mda failures
• Failure Log
• Failure line: TEST-UNEXPECTED-FAIL | dom/media/test/test_load_same_resource.html | Test timed out!

Comment 20

[Web Platform Test Sync Bot (Matrix: #interop:mozilla.org)]

Upstream PR was closed without merging

Comment 21

[Pulsebot]

Pushed by [e-mail]:
https://hg.mozilla.org/integration/autoland/rev/024863677345
Add a pref to disable Theora playback, disable it on Nightly. r=media-playback-reviewers,alwu
https://hg.mozilla.org/integration/autoland/rev/7d823668fba7
Remove theora usage from dom/media and dom/canvas. r=media-playback-reviewers,jgilbert,alwu
https://hg.mozilla.org/integration/autoland/rev/22dd17861e80
Fix OGG specific tests. r=media-playback-reviewers,alwu
https://hg.mozilla.org/integration/autoland/rev/d1d98783c88d
Remove layout/reftests/ogg-video. r=emilio
https://hg.mozilla.org/integration/autoland/rev/b9286e049dea
Stop using theora in browser/base/content/test. r=Gijs
https://hg.mozilla.org/integration/autoland/rev/9983c1ddee85
Stop using theora files in toolkit/. r=mossop,anti-tracking-reviewers,timhuang
https://hg.mozilla.org/integration/autoland/rev/c2c11ee3f79f
Stop using theora files in mobile/android/geckoview/src/androidTest/. r=geckoview-reviewers,m_kato,frontend-codestyle-reviewers
https://hg.mozilla.org/integration/autoland/rev/24a1fb93d4a8
Stop using theora files in tests in browser/. r=mossop,anti-tracking-reviewers,timhuang
https://hg.mozilla.org/integration/autoland/rev/0038d6d54690
Stop using theora files in tests in dom/html. r=smaug
https://hg.mozilla.org/integration/autoland/rev/f5e2a92235f1
Stop using theora files in dom/security. r=freddyb
https://hg.mozilla.org/integration/autoland/rev/f8cbb9933469
Adjust docs. r=media-playback-reviewers,alwu
https://hg.mozilla.org/integration/autoland/rev/93086bc64d37
Stop using Theora files in WPT. r=jgraham
https://hg.mozilla.org/integration/autoland/rev/08603e5ea8a0
Stop using Theora files in WPT (Mozilla tests). r=jgraham

Comment 22

[Pulsebot]

Pushed by [e-mail]:
https://hg.mozilla.org/integration/autoland/rev/9b8435c1c982
Change file name in test @ toolkit/components/antitracking/test/browser/file_saveAsPageInfo.html CLOSED TREE

Comment 23

[Narcis Beleuzu [:NarcisB]]

Backed out for mda failure on test_closing_connections

Backout link: https://hg.mozilla.org/integration/autoland/rev/4f25d5d8a7f95de5caa0a504594a0f1c9005c38e
Log link: https://treeherder.mozilla.org/logviewer?job_id=453397376&repo=autoland&lineNumber=2038

Comment 24

[Web Platform Test Sync Bot (Matrix: #interop:mozilla.org)]

Upstream PR was closed without merging

Comment 25

[Pulsebot]

Pushed by [e-mail]:
https://hg.mozilla.org/integration/autoland/rev/97298991b864
Add a pref to disable Theora playback, disable it on Nightly. r=media-playback-reviewers,alwu
https://hg.mozilla.org/integration/autoland/rev/17ea9bd7979d
Remove theora usage from dom/media and dom/canvas. r=media-playback-reviewers,jgilbert,alwu
https://hg.mozilla.org/integration/autoland/rev/783875421564
Fix OGG specific tests. r=media-playback-reviewers,alwu
https://hg.mozilla.org/integration/autoland/rev/e56f721a11a5
Remove layout/reftests/ogg-video. r=emilio
https://hg.mozilla.org/integration/autoland/rev/370c3d3941bd
Stop using theora in browser/base/content/test. r=Gijs
https://hg.mozilla.org/integration/autoland/rev/76d69c25320d
Stop using theora files in toolkit/. r=mossop,anti-tracking-reviewers,timhuang
https://hg.mozilla.org/integration/autoland/rev/5b301ec4e01f
Stop using theora files in mobile/android/geckoview/src/androidTest/. r=geckoview-reviewers,m_kato,frontend-codestyle-reviewers
https://hg.mozilla.org/integration/autoland/rev/bfb9b0e704f2
Stop using theora files in tests in browser/. r=mossop,anti-tracking-reviewers,timhuang
https://hg.mozilla.org/integration/autoland/rev/e68e06324af5
Stop using theora files in tests in dom/html. r=smaug
https://hg.mozilla.org/integration/autoland/rev/8b4762de8fd0
Stop using theora files in dom/security. r=freddyb
https://hg.mozilla.org/integration/autoland/rev/f7fcc884e8e2
Adjust docs. r=media-playback-reviewers,alwu
https://hg.mozilla.org/integration/autoland/rev/91467fac1e6a
Stop using Theora files in WPT. r=jgraham
https://hg.mozilla.org/integration/autoland/rev/98d171e8ce25
Stop using Theora files in WPT (Mozilla tests). r=jgraham

Comment 26

[Cristian Tuns]

https://hg.mozilla.org/mozilla-central/rev/97298991b864
https://hg.mozilla.org/mozilla-central/rev/17ea9bd7979d
https://hg.mozilla.org/mozilla-central/rev/783875421564
https://hg.mozilla.org/mozilla-central/rev/e56f721a11a5
https://hg.mozilla.org/mozilla-central/rev/370c3d3941bd
https://hg.mozilla.org/mozilla-central/rev/76d69c25320d
https://hg.mozilla.org/mozilla-central/rev/5b301ec4e01f
https://hg.mozilla.org/mozilla-central/rev/bfb9b0e704f2
https://hg.mozilla.org/mozilla-central/rev/e68e06324af5
https://hg.mozilla.org/mozilla-central/rev/8b4762de8fd0
https://hg.mozilla.org/mozilla-central/rev/f7fcc884e8e2
https://hg.mozilla.org/mozilla-central/rev/91467fac1e6a
https://hg.mozilla.org/mozilla-central/rev/98d171e8ce25

Comment 27

[Web Platform Test Sync Bot (Matrix: #interop:mozilla.org)]

Upstream PR merged by moz-wptsync-bot