Microsoft, Google, Amazon, others, aim for royalty-free codecs

Microsoft, Google, Mozilla, Cisco, Intel, Netflix, and Amazon today launched a new consortium, the Alliance for Open Media. The group plans to develop next-generation media formats – including audio and still images, but with video as the top priority – and deliver them as royalty-free open source, suitable for both commercial and noncommercial content.

The problem is that the supposed next-generation codec, HVEC, is going to be a lot more expensive, whereas other initiatives, such as Google’s VP9/VP10, would surely face patent trolling from the other major players. By coming together like this, all these players can have a say, without fear of them suing each other. That being said, smaller players will still want to sue, but at least the united front should make that a little harder.

And, unsurprisingly, one major player is not part of this new initiative. I guess they didn’t like the open and royalty-free part.

24 Comments

  1. 2015-09-02 8:07 am
    • 2015-09-02 8:59 am
      • 2015-09-02 9:01 am
      • 2015-09-02 9:33 am
        • 2015-09-02 2:07 pm
          • 2015-09-02 2:18 pm
          • 2015-09-02 2:22 pm
          • 2015-09-02 7:29 pm
          • 2015-09-03 12:24 am
          • 2015-09-03 12:10 pm
    • 2015-09-03 7:06 am
  2. 2015-09-02 4:12 pm
    • 2015-09-02 6:11 pm
  3. 2015-09-03 5:32 am
    • 2015-09-03 6:46 am
      • 2015-09-03 9:06 am
    • 2015-09-03 6:40 pm
  4. 2015-09-03 9:46 am
  5. 2015-09-03 10:05 am
    • 2015-09-03 6:34 pm
      • 2015-09-03 6:38 pm
  6. 2015-09-06 4:03 pm
    • 2015-09-07 11:59 am