[Recoil42]

We have a format for something like that — WebP. As a bonus, it's less processor-intensive, which makes it suited for things like tiling backgrounds, or embedding many of them on a page — a huge problem for MP4s that anyone who's enabled the on their services has no doubt already discovered.

[EvilTrout]

But MP4s will play using low power on virtually every touch device today. That is a huge advantage.

[TD-Linux]

Hardware decoding makes MP4 decoding lower power than decoding on the CPU. That does not make it "low power" in general, compared to simpler formats.

[Pxtl]

Indeed. I'm disappointed that the new generation of codecs (h264/webM) has won out for small internet videos because they seem to be processing-power beasts.

Full-screen mpeg-2 (DVDs) was doable with a $40 device over a decade ago. Video compression is definitely a worse-is-better space.

[dtech]

The heavier use of CPU allows the files to be smaller while retaining quality (or vice-versa).

As all current platforms, including mobile because of dedicated hardware, have absolutely no problem with playing H.264 video while bandwidth is still a scarce resource I think it is logical and wise that H.264 won over MPEG-2 or other older codecs.

Don't forget that larger file size also might mean more power consumption (storage and radio need to be active longer) even if less CPU is consumed.