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H.264 for Web Video is Officially Free to License Forever!

Though the free licensing for H.264 video was set to expire in 2016, it's now been extended indefinitely. Internet users rejoice!

By Wesley Fenlon  |  Aug. 27, 2010

If you watched a video today, chances are good the H.264 codec made it possible. Used in everything from streaming Youtube videos to hi-def Blu-ray playback, the H.264/Advanced Video Coding standard excels at decoding quality video at a low bitrate. The MPEG LA association that holds the rights to H.264 planned to license the technology for Internet video at no charge until 2016. Without their free licensing, Internet users the world over wouldn’t be able to upload clips of their kittens to YouTube without paying a cent. And what kind of world would that be?

The ominous cloud hanging over current and emerging web video technologies, however, was that 2016 expiration date. HTML5 supports H.264, and Google’s free WebM may tread a bit too closely to MPEG LA’s patents. But all is well: MPEG LA announced today that it plans to extend its free licensing for Internet Broadcasting AVC video indefinitely.

Here’s what their announcement means for video on the web.

HTML5 and WebM are going to continue gaining ground against Flash video. Of course, Flash also supports H.264--but now that there’s no risk of licensing issues or royalty payments down the road, more sites may well embrace H.264 as their format of choice. Could it beat out Ogg to become the primary HTML5 codec? Quite possibly.

Or maybe it will come down to a battle between H.264 and the open-source WebM. But that fight can only benefit the web at large--the contest will purely look at codec quality and efficiency, since future licensing fees are no longer a possibility. Either way, MPEG LA still charges royalties for H.264 usage off the web. But uploading kittens videos to the web? Free now, free forever.
7 Comments
eternalbetaon Aug. 27, 2010 at 8:32 a.m.
This is fantastic news! As someone who works with web design on the side, knowing that a solid and establish codec can now be in place for HTML5 is a weight lifted
HeadNodShyon Aug. 27, 2010 at 8:36 a.m.
As long as MPEG LA doesn't change their mind by 2016, we'll be ok.
 
I still hope WebM can be open and not get sued.
lane moderator on Aug. 27, 2010 at 9:02 a.m.
Praise God and hallelujah. This is the most important thing to happen for the web in years.
gaboron Aug. 27, 2010 at 10:26 a.m.
this is very good news, but please note that the whole mpeg-licensing situation is extremely complex (for example, does this license cover website with ads? etc.).
 

 Internet users the world over wouldn’t be able to upload clips of their kittens to YouTube without paying a cent

as far as i understand, in this case YouTube has to pay for the license, not the users (not anymore, but the point is, the broadcaster pays, not the uploader) 
  

MPEG LA announced today that it plans to extend its free licensing for Internet Broadcasting AVC video indefinitely.


   
please note that this is only about broadcasting video. it does not cover the encoder and the player software for example, so for example, still no mpeg4 for firefox ( http://twitter.com/chrisblizzard/status/22195200860) 
Erasuson Aug. 27, 2010 at 10:42 a.m.
Great! H.264 is as said a great codec that can be used for anything! Much better than MEPG-2, DivX or XviD. Sure it takes a bit to decode but most computers can run it fine. 
Roddykaton Aug. 29, 2010 at 3:50 a.m.
And there was much rejoicing...
psoplayeron Aug. 29, 2010 at 4:43 p.m.
@gabor said:
please note that this is only about broadcasting video. it does not cover the encoder and the player software for example, so for example, still no mpeg4 for firefox (http://twitter.com/chrisblizzard/status/22195200860)
What matters for web video is browser and device support. This announcement doesn't really change much in the web video debate. WebM will soon be the codec common among the majority browsers (once IE9 is released). H.264 decoders will still have a licensing fee attached, so we should hope to see hardware accelerated WebM devices soon. At that point the only use for H.264 on the web will be legacy video content. (Still nice to know that people will be able to provide that content for free, though.)
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