Twitch readies its long-awaited HTML5 video player

Twitch is about to come through on a promise to its game-livestream spectators and broadcasters. The San Francisco gameplay livestreaming company is announcing today that it has a test version of its HTML5 video player.

The new video player will replace the much-maligned Flash player. It is going into closed beta testing now, and it will eventually replace Flash. Starting today, users with Turbo subscriptions will be able to join the beta and begin viewing broadcasts in HTML5, which is the lingua franca of the web. Twitch promised the player to its community a year ago at its TwitchCon conference. More users will get access to the player over the summer.

With HTML5, viewers are expected to enjoy a smoother streaming experience with faster load times and more consistent delivery of high framerate broadcasts than the current Flash Player, Twitch said. Amazon-owned Twitch has more than 100 million monthly active users.

HTML5 is also known for allowing longer viewing sessions by taking up less CPU and battery life. Viewers in the closed beta can toggle HTML5 on and off via Player Settings on the channel user interface.

“Among the Twitch community’s wish list has been a full migration to HTML5, which is why it has been a major focus for our engineers,” said Noreen McInnis, the product marketing manager at Twitch, in a statement. “Compared to our current Flash Player, load times are expected to be faster with better framerates while taxing our viewers’ devices less. The end result is a better viewing experience for our community.”