November 22, 2024

MPEG LA Makes H.264 Video Permanently Royalty-Free

Posted August 26, 2010 at 5:27pm by iClarified · 7686 views
MPEG LA announces that it will continue not to charge royalties for H.264 Internet Video that is free to end users during the entire life of this License.

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MPEG LA announced today that its AVC Patent Portfolio License will continue not to charge royalties for Internet Video that is free to end users (known as “Internet Broadcast AVC Video”) during the entire life of this License. MPEG LA previously announced it would not charge royalties for such video through December 31, 2015, and today’s announcement makes clear that royalties will continue not to be charged for such video beyond that time. Products and services other than Internet Broadcast AVC Video continue to be royalty-bearing.

MPEG LA's AVC Patent Portfolio License provides access to essential patent rights for the AVC/H.264 (MPEG-4 Part 10) digital video coding standard. In addition to Internet Broadcast AVC Video, MPEG LA’s AVC Patent Portfolio License provides coverage for devices that decode and encode AVC video, AVC video sold to end users for a fee on a title or subscription basis and free television video services. AVC video is used in set-top boxes, media player and other personal computer software, mobile devices including telephones and mobile television receivers, Blu-ray Disc™ players and recorders, Blu-ray video optical discs, game machines, personal media player devices and still and video cameras.
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This is great news for web developers who are frustrated by Firefox's lack of support for H.264. Mozilla cited licensing reasons for its refusal to support the standard that has been adopted by all other browsers.

[via MacRumors]