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Video Codec Libraries
The goal of this list is to list the potential encoders and decoders that are available to use, and review what the potential licensing and/or patent issues there might be with each of them. We will be focusing only on codecs that may be suitable for review. The hope is to identify what could be included in precompiled applications without requiring any licensing costs, or side effects (like GPL).
Patent encumbered libraries
The libraries below fall into several patent pools.
| Codec | License | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| h264 | AVC/H.264 License Fees - ViaLa (via-la.com) | Mentions first 100000 units per year being free. |
| h265 | HEVC License Fees - ViaLa (via-la.com) | Mentions first 100000 units per year being free. |
| DNxHD | https://www.avid.com/ja/legal/avid-dnxhd-list-of-patent-rights | This is a list of patent's. I have not found anywhere with information about licensing those patents. |
| ProRes | https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT200321 |
Related to the above software patents, its interesting to note the videolan FAQ - https://www.videolan.org/legal.html - which mentions "Neither French law nor European conventions recognize software as patentable. Therefore, software patents licenses do not apply on VideoLAN software."
Open Source Libraries
Note, there is a patent pool for vp9 and av1 - although it seems like they were not involved with the development of those codecs.
Patent Licenses
Audio Codecs
TODO -
| Priority | Source | Codec | License | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| x | Advanced Audio Coding (AAC) - ViaLa (via-la.com) | AAC | ||
| x | Opus Codec (opus-codec.org) | OPUS | BSD - License – Opus Codec (opus-codec.org) | |
| Technology Dolby Atmos | Dolby Developer | Dolby - Atmos |