Google Chrome to prioritize HTML5 over Flash, beginning September

Google has confirmed that it will stop supporting Flash in its Chrome browser next month, in favour of the new HTML5.

In accordance with an announcement made earlier in May, Google is trying to phase out Adobe Flash Player once and for all. With Chrome version 53, set to roll out early September, Google will block invisible Flash content like tracking and cookies. Then in version 55, it will be ignored entirely, except for websites that support only Flash.In that case, Chrome will detect solely Flash content, and ask users for permission before loading the website.

"Today, more than 90% of Flash on the web loads behind the scenes to support things like page analytics. This kind of Flash slows you down, and starting this September, Chrome 53 will begin to block it," Google said in a blog post.

Google is aiming to speed up user experience on Chrome with the faster-loading HTML5. However, while Flash support will be provided on an “as needed” basis, certain popular websites have been whitelisted to prevent them from prompting the user excessively. These include YouTube, Facebook, Amazon, Yahoo, and Twitch, to name a few. That exception runs out by the end of 2017, by which time Google expects the websites to have switched over to HTML5.