[FFmpeg-devel] License term Inquiry

Reimar Döffinger Reimar.Doeffinger at gmx.de
Wed Mar 9 19:50:23 CET 2016


On Wed, Mar 09, 2016 at 08:52:29AM +0800, Peng Poney wrote:
> Hi
> 
> 
> 
> We need to use FFMpeg in Chromium and we do compile
> option:”proprietary_codecs=1”. According  to the license term, we didn’t
>  use GPL and NON_Free option when we compile our software. Does it mean we
> can use our software fro commercial purpose?

If you plan on investing any relevant amount of money I can
only recommend to talk to a lawyer with experience in OpenSource
and Multimedia, the way you stated your question suggests
you need a lot more information than anyone here has
time to give.
At the very least read the licenses.
Neither GPL or LGPL have any restrictions on USE,
only on DISTRIBUTION.
Even if you DISTRIBUTE commercial or not does not really matter.
As an approximation of the minimum you have to do if
distributing (if not using GPL or non-free parts):
make the source code of the EXACT version of FFmpeg you
used available alongside (e.g. on the same CD,
on the same web-page) with the binaries.
Make it possible to replace the FFmpeg version in
the thing you distribute with a different FFmpeg
version (that is mostly an issue if you link statically).
Alternative options and details: see the licenses.

Regards,
Reimar Döffinger


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