Talk:Open source codecs and containers
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[edit] iLBC ?
Hello,
I think iLBC is also an open source codec. Going on it's page, however, it says it's freeware. There's a licence there (that I'm too lazy too read) and the codec is also defined in RFC 3951. I think it probably belongs to this list. --Hdante 17:52, 28 November 2005 (UTC)
[edit] free MPEG4 part 2?
Could someone add to the ffmpeg list of free codecs an explaination why mpeg4 part 2 is free? From what I've read mpeg4 is is exacly the codec that makes you pay through your nose for it.
- Please read the article title and the first paragraph of the article - everything is explained there. This article is about open-source codecs and containers. Codec is a piece of sotware - this is about software, not compression formats such as MPEG-4 part 2. FFmpeg MPEG-4 is a codec (that is, software) and it is free as in Free Software and open-source as described in the Open Source definition. It is an open-source product and that's what this article is about. XviD is an MPEG-4 codec, too, x264 is an MPEG-4 codec, too, and they're both included in the article, too. Actually, there are open-source codecs that are missing in the article, such as LAME (which is an MPEG codec, too), probably due to this confusion.—J. M. 17:28, 18 September 2006 (UTC)
- It seems to me that every multimedia format has, or could have, an open source codec. So this page has no real constraints, and thus seems useless. Wouldn't a list of codecs and containers unencumbered by patents be more useful? Superm401 - Talk 04:02, 28 May 2007 (UTC)
- Why useless? Some users may prefer open-source codecs, for example because they use an operating system which commercial software makers don't care about. The constraint is whether the codec is open-source or not, that's why for example codecs like DivX, WMV or RealVideo are not included. I think a list of patent-free codecs would be rather short. Almost everything in the multimedia field is patented. Plus, proving it's patent-free could be too difficult (you may never know if there's some patent out there which is relevant to the codec). But there are bits of this information in other articles – the Comparison of video codecs article has that "Patented compression" section, plus the Open format article lists some free multimedia formats. —J. M. 20:48, 28 May 2007 (UTC)
- It seems to me that every multimedia format has, or could have, an open source codec. So this page has no real constraints, and thus seems useless. Wouldn't a list of codecs and containers unencumbered by patents be more useful? Superm401 - Talk 04:02, 28 May 2007 (UTC)
