With the latest round of upgrades in Chrome and Firefox we are now left in a position whereby the only internet browser able to support native plugins is Internet Explorer; now superseded by Edge.
This will severely inhibit the operation of many enterprise video platforms meaning you will likely need to look into alternative solutions.
Owing to the age of the API and security issues, as well as the adoption of plugin-free web technologies such as HTML5, major web browser vendors began to phase out NPAPI support in 2013. Google announced that it would phase out NPAPI support in its Google Chrome browser during 2014.
In May 2014, NPAPI support was removed from the Linux version of Chrome 35 and later. In April 2015, Chrome for Windows and OS X (versions 42 and later) disabled NPAPI support by default. However, NPAPI could be re-enabled. NPAPI support was completely removed by Google from all platforms in Chrome 45, released in September 2015.
Version 37 of Opera, in May 2016, saw it drop NPAPI support. Firefox ended support for NPAPI plugins, except Adobe Flash, in version 52 which was released in March 2017. Oracle Corporation has announced plans to deprecate the web browser plugin of Java Runtime Environment, starting with JDK 9.
How does this affect you?
This essentially means that if you use a browser based video solution you may soon find that your videos and streams no longer work.
Why is that?
NPAPI is an application programming interface that allows plug-ins to be developed and used within web browsers; this includes the Flash Video Player and VLC Media Player for example. So any solution or website you currently use or have that utilises these types of plug-in will no longer function once an upgrade on your browser is performed.
What’s the solution for Tripleplay clients?
Tripleplay has developed a solution that has negated this problem for our clients and future clients, called the Media Video Player (MVP), a desktop app that comes preloaded with all features, functionalities and codecs required to deliver video and IPTV streams. The MVP solution also enables stable and high quality video delivery to thin clients in Citrix/VDI environments.
This solution is available to existing deployments, although an upgrade of their software platform may be required first.
If you require any further information on this change please contact your Tripleplay account manager.
