1963910 - HEVC support is not pre-installed by default on all Windows versions

Status: NEW

(Web Compatibility :: Knowledge Base, defect)

Description

[Alastor Wu [:alwu]]

Based on [1], HEVC support is available on Windows 10 versions prior to 1709 (i.e., after version 1507 but before 1709), and again starting with Windows 11 version 22H2.

Therefore, users running Windows 10 version 1709 or later, or an earlier version of Windows 11 (before 22H2), will not be able to play HEVC content by default, as the required extension is not pre-installed by Microsoft.

Since Firefox relies on the HEVC Video Extensions via the Windows Media Foundation, these users will need to either update their Windows version or purchase the HEVC Video Extensions from the Microsoft Store to enable playback.

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/High_Efficiency_Video_Coding#:~:text=Notes%20%20,120