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) | |
| h265 | HEVC License Fees - ViaLa (via-la.com) | |
| 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 |
| Priority | Source | Codecs | Encoder | Decoder | Patent Group | Description | License |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | https://developer.nvidia.com/nvidia-video-codec-sdk | h264 (See patent licenses) | x | x | H264 | Hardware see Video Encode and Decode GPU Support Matrix | NVIDIA Developer | DesignWorks_SDKs_Samples_Tools_License_distrib_use_rights_2017_06_13.pdf |
| 4 | https://developer.nvidia.com/nvidia-video-codec-sdk | h265 (See patent licenses) | x | x | H265 | Hardware see Video Encode and Decode GPU Support Matrix | NVIDIA Developer | |
| 1 | x264, the best H.264/AVC encoder - VideoLAN | h264 (See patent licenses) | x | x | H264 | software | GPL - |
| 4 | x265, the free H.265/HEVC encoder - VideoLAN | h265 (See patent licenses) | x | x | H265 | software | GPL - |
| 1 | https://developer.apple.com/documentation/videotoolbox | h264/h265/Prores (See patent licenses) | x | x | H264 / H265 (Prores | Hardware support Mac only | ? |
| 4 | Intel® Media SDK | h264, h265 | x | x | hardware windows and linux libraries. | End User License Agreements (intel.com) - note this still may not cover the licensing. | |
| 2 | ffmpeg DNxHD encoder/decoder | DNxHD DNxHR | x | x | DNxHD | This seems to be the only open-source library for DNxHD. | lgpl - FFmpeg/dnxhdenc.c at master · FFmpeg/FFmpeg (github.com) - this was developed as part of ffmpeg, with sponsorship by BBC Research. See also: ⚓ T91 Help evaluate/understand Avid DNxHD codec situation (apertus.org) |
| 3 | ffmpeg Prores_ks | Part of ffmpeg - |
Open Source Libraries
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 |