MPEG video formats

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The MPEG video formats have been plagued with patent problems, posing constant problems for software developers and innovators. This series includes the H.264 format (aka MPEG-4 AVC).

The patent problems with H.264 are the reason it was excluded from the HTML5 specification.

According to the MPEG Licensing Authority (MPEG LA), these video formats are covered by more than 1,000 patents, held by 29 companies^[1] in 57 countries.^[2]

Contents 1 MPEG LA 2 Avoiding H.264 3 Related pages on en.swpat.org 4 External links 5 References

[edit] MPEG LA

MPEG LA is the licensing authority for a thicket of over 1,000 patents, held by 29 companies. MPEG LA claims that 1,000 of these patents must be licensed in order to use the common H.264 video format.^[3] which it claims are requried for use of MPEG video formats. The holders of these patents include Columbia University, Electronics and Telecommunications Research Institute of Korea (ETRI), France Télécom, Fujitsu, LG Electronics, Matsushita, Mitsubishi, Microsoft, Motorola, Nokia, Philips, Robert Bosch GmbH, Samsung, Sharp, Sony, Toshiba, and Victor Company of Japan (JVC).^[4] The last MPEG LA listed patents don't expire until 2028 in the US.^[5]

As of February 2010, MPEG LA lists 639 companies which are paying this patent tax.^[6]

[edit] Avoiding H.264

One way to steer away from the problems of H.264 is to use the Ogg audio and video formats. More information can be found at: http://playogg.org/

[edit] Related pages on en.swpat.org

• Harm to standards
• HTML5
• Audio-video patents

[edit] External links

• Wikipedia: H.264/MPEG-4 AVC
• MpegLA announces it's consolidated patent claims over H.264, with a list at the end with 17 of the patent holders
• MPEG LA's licensing terms
• The full list of patents
• The full list of the patent holders
• Play Ogg!, a campaign by FSF to avoid H.264 by using the Ogg audio and video formats
• Philips also has patents on mpeg
• Mozilla Foundation comments, January 2010: HTML5 video and codecs, and Video, Freedom And Mozilla
• mpeg-patents-faq ("especially for audio compression")
• No, you can’t do that with H.264

[edit] References

1. ↑ http://lwn.net/Articles/371751/
2. ↑ http://www.mpegla.com/Lists/MPEG%20LA%20News%20List/Attachments/226/n-10-02-02.pdf
3. ↑ http://lwn.net/Articles/371751/
4. ↑ http://www.mpegla.com/news/n_03-11-17_avc.html
5. ↑ http://lists.whatwg.org/pipermail/whatwg-whatwg.org/2009-July/020737.html
6. ↑ http://www.mpegla.com/main/programs/M4V/Pages/Licensees.aspx