using commercial x264 encoder with GStreamer

[Vladislavs Zaluckis-2]

Hi all,

I am sure this has been asked and answered before, I just somehow fail to look it up. Can you please point me in the right direction or just answer the following question.

I am developing a commercial product based on the GStreamer framework that will output an x264-encoded video stream. Obviously, I need a commercial x264 license to do that. But then what about the x264enc plugin from the "ugly" set? It is under GPL, so obviously I cannot use it for a commercial product. So, do I have to develop a very similar (if not identical) plugin to wrap the commercial libx264? Hasn't this been done before? I would buy a commercial version of it if it existed, but I don't see any references...

Thanks!

Vlad

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[Josh Doe]

Fluendo is one company which offers licensed H.264 GStreamer encoders, though I've never used them.

On Tue, Oct 23, 2018 at 6:41 AM Vladislavs Zaluckis <[hidden email]> wrote:

Hi all,

I am sure this has been asked and answered before, I just somehow fail to look it up. Can you please point me in the right direction or just answer the following question.

I am developing a commercial product based on the GStreamer framework that will output an x264-encoded video stream. Obviously, I need a commercial x264 license to do that. But then what about the x264enc plugin from the "ugly" set? It is under GPL, so obviously I cannot use it for a commercial product. So, do I have to develop a very similar (if not identical) plugin to wrap the commercial libx264? Hasn't this been done before? I would buy a commercial version of it if it existed, but I don't see any references...

Thanks!

Vlad

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[Sebastian Dröge-3]

On Tue, 2018-10-23 at 13:41 +0300, Vladislavs Zaluckis wrote:

> Hi all,
> I am sure this has been asked and answered before, I just somehow
> fail to look it up. Can you please point me in the right direction or
> just answer the following question.
>
> I am developing a commercial product based on the GStreamer framework
> that will output an x264-encoded video stream. Obviously, I need a
> commercial x264 license to do that. But then what about the x264enc
> plugin from the "ugly" set? It is under GPL, so obviously I cannot
> use it for a commercial product. So, do I have to develop a very
> similar (if not identical) plugin to wrap the commercial libx264?
> Hasn't this been done before? I would buy a commercial version of it
> if it existed, but I don't see any references...

The x264 plugin code is LGPL like most of GStreamer. The indication
that the plugin is GPL in the plugin factory is because that's how most
people link it: to the GPL x264 library.

There's nothing preventing you from linking against the commercial x264
library, and optionally changing that GPL indication to LGPL (which the
combined situation would be for the plugin AFAIU, but I'm not a
lawyer). That's what other people are doing in your situation.

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Sebastian Dröge, Centricular Ltd · http://www.centricular.com

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[David Ing]

Google "x264 licensing"

On Tue, Oct 23, 2018 at 7:57 AM Sebastian Dröge <[hidden email]> wrote:

On Tue, 2018-10-23 at 13:41 +0300, Vladislavs Zaluckis wrote:
> Hi all,
> I am sure this has been asked and answered before, I just somehow
> fail to look it up. Can you please point me in the right direction or
> just answer the following question.
>
> I am developing a commercial product based on the GStreamer framework
> that will output an x264-encoded video stream. Obviously, I need a
> commercial x264 license to do that. But then what about the x264enc
> plugin from the "ugly" set? It is under GPL, so obviously I cannot
> use it for a commercial product. So, do I have to develop a very
> similar (if not identical) plugin to wrap the commercial libx264?
> Hasn't this been done before? I would buy a commercial version of it
> if it existed, but I don't see any references...

The x264 plugin code is LGPL like most of GStreamer. The indication
that the plugin is GPL in the plugin factory is because that's how most
people link it: to the GPL x264 library.

There's nothing preventing you from linking against the commercial x264
library, and optionally changing that GPL indication to LGPL (which the
combined situation would be for the plugin AFAIU, but I'm not a
lawyer). That's what other people are doing in your situation.

--
Sebastian Dröge, Centricular Ltd · http://www.centricular.com
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[Sebastian Dröge-3]

On Tue, 2018-10-23 at 08:04 -0700, David Ing wrote:
> Google "x264 licensing"

What do you mean?

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[David Ing]

The OP wanted to know who he had to pay in order to use x264 commercially.  At least in the US, it is necessary to pay someone.  I thought that the results of the google search would help.  Am I wrong?

On Tue, Oct 23, 2018 at 8:27 AM Sebastian Dröge <[hidden email]> wrote:

On Tue, 2018-10-23 at 08:04 -0700, David Ing wrote:
> Google "x264 licensing"

What do you mean?

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[Sebastian Dröge-3]

On Tue, 2018-10-23 at 08:31 -0700, David Ing wrote:
> The OP wanted to know who he had to pay in order to use x264
> commercially.  At least in the US, it is necessary to pay someone.  I
> thought that the results of the google search would help.  Am I
> wrong?

Unless I'm mistaken, the OP asked about how to use the GStreamer x264
plugin with the commercially licensed variant of the x264 library.

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