improve battery life by exposing hardware accelerated VP9 to apps like chrome/firefox

Originator:kaizhu256
Number:rdar://39617309 Date Originated:2018-04-21
Status:open Resolved:
Product:macbook Product Version:macbook 12" 2017
Classification:battery-life Reproducible:yes
 
Summary:
chrome and firefox have noticeably poorer battery life than safari when watching youtube videos.

it was suggested on this chromium-dev thread:
https://groups.google.com/a/chromium.org/forum/#!topic/chromium-dev/WerdpaAksNM
that I submit a separate RADAR ticket requesting hardware vp9 for apps to alleviate the situation

Steps to Reproduce:
open safari and chrome/firefox and watch the same youtube video in each browser

Expected Results:
they should have similar power consumption characteristics


Actual Results:
chrome and firefox use several times more power than safari according to energy-impact numbers from activity monitor on my 2017 macbook 12"
youtube.com:
google chrome - 79.5
firefox               - 57
safari                - 15.0


Version/Build:
macOS Sierra: version 10.12.6
MacBook (Retina, 12-inch, 2017)
serial number: xxxxxxxx

Configuration:
stock config: 1.2ghz/8gb/256gb

Comments


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