Chrome 90 Defaults to HTTPS, Adds AV1 Codec for Optimized Video Conferencing
Google today rolled out Chrome 90 to its stable channel, introducing automatic preference for HTTPS sites over the HTTP protocol, plus some other notable changes.
By default, Chrome will now redirect all websites to use the more secure HTTPS protocol. Encrypted using Transport Layer Security (TLS), HTTPS secures communication over networks by authenticating the website and protecting the privacy of data in transit. MacRumors.com has supported HTTPS for some time now.
In addition, Chrome 90 adopts the AV1 codec for optimized video conferencing with WebRTC. The new codec should improve compression efficiency and reduce bandwidth consumption while improving video quality, and improve connectivity on low bandwidth connections. Screen sharing is also said to be more efficient when compared to the VP9 codec.
Elsewhere, users can now hide the Reading List without delving into Chrome's flags. To do so, right-click the Bookmark Bar and deselect the new Show Reading List option at the bottom.
Meanwhile, for developers, Chrome 90 introduces support for CSS overflow, which should help prevent scrolling within a CSS box. Google has also renamed the Feature Policy API to Permission Policy, which lets users adjust the behavior of certain APIs and web features in the browser.
In the previous version of the browser, Chrome 89 introduced Google's live caption transcription feature, which uses machine learning to create a real-time transcription for videos or audio played through the browser.
Google Chrome for Mac is a free download available directly from Google's servers. Google Chrome for iOS is a free download for iPhone and iPad available on the App Store. [Direct Link]
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