Clarence Eldefors blog Mostly about the web and technology

28Aug/100

Free as in promotional trick

MPEG LA delivers the widespread news that H.264 will be royalty free permanently.

This is merely a trick to promote it's adoption in HTML 5 and popularity in the mainstream. Nothing really changes with this statement. H.264 did note become more free in any important aspect.

Firstly it does not change anything for 4 years. The previous license was valid until 2014. We all know that is a long time given current tech progress.

Secondly only free video broadcasting is included. Should you decide any alternative delivery methods, want to actually create videos or anything other it is not included.

This is only making it free to actually transfer the bits that you already have. A limitation that I would argue should even be allowed to exist. And even if you still feel safe - MPEG LAy can change this license at any time.

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