cf. http://www.ietf.org/mail-archive/web/rtcweb/current/msg11238.html Video codecs and the staw poll
draft-ietf-rtcweb-video for November 2014
could implement VP8 or even VP9
http://linuxfr.org/users/houplaboom/journaux/le-codec-vp9-recoit-le-soutien-de-l-industrie
provision for adding other open formats like daala when it's ready
http://linuxfr.org/news/daala-le-codec-video-du-futur-par-xiph
Patents encumbered formats are a difficulty for GNU/Linux distribution, software packages implementing them have to be different (tainted) than main or core packages, so it adds work for the distribution as they are treated separately..
See https://wiki.mageia.org/en/Mirrors_policy#tainted