In an attempt to lose dependent on Adobe’s Flash, both YouTube and Vimeo has begun to replace it with HTML5 video playback. The HTML5 version of their video playback is currently going to be available only on Google Chrome and Apple Safari.

Though it may not seem like much difference on the exterior, this move is quite smart move on their part. After Adobe acquired Macromedia, Flash has become quite a bloated dependent plugin that has been required to do simple online tasks such as video playback

Because of Flash’s bloated nature, its video playback is terrible on both Linux and Mac OS X. HTML5 appears to be the next step in getting rid of dependance of Flash, and would allow providers to offer a leaner, and much better streaming experience.