In case of video codecs, this is a very common situation.
Macromedia later tried to find a better video codec.
Not all video codecs work right out of the box.
To the poster above that was promoting patents for video codecs.
After the Spring 2007 update, the following video codecs are supported:
I would buy that if Apple would finally support a decent amount of video codecs.
That's an interesting concept, but doesn't map well to how real-world video codecs are developed.
Unfortunately, virtually every other video codec is also protected by patents.
Support for other audio and video codecs is optional.
This table documents support for video codecs by the element.