License costs for H.264-Codec (MPEG LA)

[dutyfarm]

Where can i find infos about the licensing situation of the h.264-codec. do we have to pay a license-fee to the MPEG LA if we use the h.264-codec (or the open source version x264) to encode our videos? do we also have to pay if we distribute the video-streams as h.264/AAC to our customers (video in demand)?

thanks for any updates of the licence-terms! i only found very old statements from MPEG LA (from 2002/2003)!

best, daniel

[WowzaDave]

The MPEG-LA licensing information is available on their website at:

Request a copy of the Portfolio License
http://www.mpegla.com/avc/avc-agreement.cfm

PowerPoint Presentation
http://www.mpegla.com/avc/avcweb.ppt

Summary of the License terms
http://www.mpegla.com/avc/AVC_TermsSummary.pdf

There are a number of terms and conditions that vary according to the specific use, volume and dates. If you have questions, I strongly recommend contacting MPEG-LA directly.

[dutyfarm]

thanks for the infos.

unfortunately these are really bad license terms and this should be considered by everybody who wants to start a streaming vod-service based on h.264/aac, i think!

Source: Official MPEG LA-Presentation:
Situation: End User pays for H.264/AAC Video
Subscription SVOD (not limited by title):
100,000 or fewer subscribers/yr = no royalty
> 100,000 to 250,000 subscribers/yr = $25,000
>250,000 to 500,000 subscribers/yr = $50,000
>500,000 to 1M subscribers/yr = $75,000
>1M subscribers/yr = $100,000

Title-by-Title (e.g. Video on demand VOD, AVOD, TVOD)
12 minutes or less = no royalty
>12 minutes in length = lower of (a) 2% or (b) $0.02 per title

Could it be a solution to use the free x264-Codec to generate the files which should be streamed?

[rogerlittin]

That works out at a maximum of $0.25 per subscriber if you are running a subscription service that has more than 100,000 subscribers paying for the service.

If you read the next section about non subscription internet broadcasting then it says that it is free up until the end of 2010 then a fee on a per encoder basis.