Which codecs can i use without any licence?

[jongerenchaos]

Hello,

I want to stream audio & video with VLC for users who payed for it. The codecs like MPEG4 you should get a paid licence to use them for any commercial project. Theora is a completely free codec solution but not a optimal solution to create a working project with all the basic players..

My question: Which codecs can i use for live streaming encoding without having any licence (mp3? mpeg2? divx?) ?

[Rémi Denis-Courmont]

Not a single codec is supported by every player. If you had the licensing constraint, that does not help.

Thisis also dependent on whom you ask, and which countries you're interested in. The bottom line is that you should ask from a qualified lawyer, not from here.

[jongerenchaos]

Thanks for your answers.

I'll stream from VLC with the codecs in this program. I know that VLC is free and GLP licenced.
But is it true that if i stream for example in MP3 audio and DIVX or WMA video that this is (CODEC) licenced free for example in the netherlands (offcourse with own audio & video content)? Or did i pay Microsoft for using the WMA codec and the company from DIVX?

I think open source = open source and i can use it with the codecs in it for free (or is this wrong)?

[Jean-Baptiste Kempf]

In Europe, codec licenses are probably not legal.

For example, you should use some MPEG codecs.

[jongerenchaos]

Thanks!

I Found also the X.264 open source codec which them also used on Google video etc. and i think this is an open source codec. But when i stream it with vlc he encode this to H.264 is this real h264 or the open source codec?

[Jean-Baptiste Kempf]

x264 is an open source implementation of H264. but H264 is patented...