Removing Browser Multimedia Format Limitations through Standardized Filter Pipelines

Browsers currently support only a limited number of formats natively, forcing format developers and content providers to either provide plugins or extensions, or to convert their content to one of the supported formats. We propose WebAssembly-based pipelines that perform transcoding or decoding, along with algorithmic control, within browsers to provide support for non-natively supported formats. These enable flexible interchange of codec components enabling rapid development of new codec solutions. We further advocate for standardization of an accessor pipeline control mechanism to enhance security and performance, and to ensure greater transparency for users.