Twitch dropping Flash-based video player for HTML5

Twitch is moving from a Flash-based video player to one that is HTML5-based, the company announced yesterday.

The Amazon-owned streaming service took the first step in that process yesterday, starting a gradual rollout of HTML5-based controls for its video player. The new controls, which you can see at the bottom of the screenshot above, will appear on channel pages first.

"The video itself is still in Flash underneath the controls," Twitch noted in a blog post. "However, this is an important step to releasing the much-anticipated full HTML5 player."

Twitch's announcement comes during a swell of anti-Flash sentiment from tech companies and security firms, a movement driven by a series of security vulnerabilities in the ubiquitous web platform. Last week, Facebook's new chief security officer called for Adobe to set an "end-of-life date for Flash." And as the late Steve Jobs pointed out way back in April 2010, Flash also has negative impacts on system performance and battery life. Google ditched Flash for HTML5 in YouTube's video player this past January.