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You can license H.264, for the purpose of encoding video, for free or cheap, if your volume is modest. [1] Whoever handles the video distribution (you or your

You can license H.264, for the purpose of encoding video, for free or cheap, if your volume is modest. [1] Whoever handles the video distribution (you or your customers) also needs to license the codec. This too is free or cheap. It could all change in the future, but who knows if that will happen. Personally, I'd be more worried about other parts of the encoding chain. What format are you using? MP4 requires a license. What audio codec? Both AAC and MP3 require a license, and they're more expensive out of the gate. And what about decoding inputs? You need to license decoders for whatever input you accept. [1] http://www.mpegla.com/main/programs/AVC/Documents/AVC_TermsSummary.pdf http://www.mpegla.com/main/programs/AVC/Documents/AVC_TermsS...

chrischen 17y ago
It is cheap, but the scary thing is building the app dependent on H.264, and letting them control things. I'm actually trying to figure out whether or not to have the user encode everything, and absolve me of any of the encoding details, or licensing everything myself and doing it for them. Right now I'm planning to have the filmmakers encode and send me final deliverable product, but to ensure a standard of quality, I'm also requiring videos to use H.264/AAC or dolby digital, or Vorbis/Theora. Still ironing out the details, but obviously part of my service can be absolving them of licensing issues so I'm still not sure which way to go. Also it's a pay-to-download service for films, so all videos will probably be longer than 12 minutes. Pretty sure I can't get it for free.