The VideoLAN Forums

Hi guys,

I'm writing an app that uses libVLC and I'm trying to figure out what are the rules for the AC3 decoder. The source code for VLC seems to block the decoder from working if the timezone is set to US. I also saw that a lot of video apps got pulled from the App store for having an AC3 decoder. What's puzzling to me is that no such limitation exists for the Mac version of VLC.

Do any of you know what are the rules here? What route should I take? Release with it and hope for the best doesn't seem like the best way to go, but I'm not sure who I can contact to see if the rules apply only to live decoding or if conversions could be covered.

Please help! Thanks.

We distribute VLC for Mac from France and we don't believe we need to license anything for an AC3 decoder.

We distribute VLC for Mac from France and we don't believe we need to license anything for an AC3 decoder.

What about iOS, though? The source code seems to indicate that it disables the AC3 decoder if the device is in a US timezone. I kept trying to find more info about this and I got almost none. Even from Via Licensing, which sells those licenses for Dolby. Not even them seem to be clear on what's really happening...

VIAlicensing are scam and liars.