The world will be appreciated by viewers of Silicon Valley -shattering importance of compression algorithms. To most everyone else, itis a geeky little of mathematics that is of no special interest. But when Google guarantees an algorithm that could cut on things get slightly more intriguing.

Google is expecting to get the VP10 standard ready to go by the end of next year; after that, it is up to other hardware and software firms to incorporate the (free) codec in their products. The truth that Google’s codec is free-to-use will probably give it a leg up in the world: competing codecs, such as the H.264 option favored by Apple, cost apparatus makers a modest fee ($0.60) for every H.264-compatible apparatus they send.