Microsoft Broke Millions of Webcams With the Windows 10 Anniversary Update
Microsoft is facing a torrent of backlash from consumers and businesses complaining that the Windows 10 Anniversary Update has broken some third-party USB cameras. The update, released on August 2nd, reportedly dropped support for two major video compression formats — specifically the H.264 and MJPEG codecs. According to Microsoft-focused blog Thurrott.com, this was supposedly a decision the company made to prevent performance issues now that certain Windows apps have more direct webcam access post-update.
Now, millions of Windows users are discovering that their webcams are freezing up, even when trying to stream via Microsoft-owned Skype. The issue is said to effect many popular webcams from big-name peripheral makers like Logitech on the hardware side, while numerous apps and services that rely on the codecs are being crippled from the software side.
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