• kralk@lemm.ee
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    9
    ·
    1 month ago

    I have literally no understanding of video codecs, standards etc. Is there a “set and forget” option which is free and good?

    • GHiLA@sh.itjust.works
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      22
      ·
      edit-2
      1 month ago

      H264 is almost universally playable and transcodable by nearly everything on earth.

          • Possibly linux@lemmy.zip
            link
            fedilink
            English
            arrow-up
            2
            arrow-down
            1
            ·
            edit-2
            30 days ago

            It is also illegal in most places beside France

            Not enforced so you should use it but it is technically illegal. Same thing with Linux distros shipping anything under patent.

            • Successful_Try543@feddit.org
              link
              fedilink
              English
              arrow-up
              1
              arrow-down
              2
              ·
              edit-2
              30 days ago

              I think you’re mixing the libdvdcss library for playing protected DVDs or referring to some other non-free, patented codec with the x264 package implementation of the H.264 codec, which the patent holders allowed to be used freely for non-commercial use.

        • PieMePlenty@lemmy.world
          link
          fedilink
          English
          arrow-up
          7
          ·
          edit-2
          1 month ago

          Commercial use requires payment to patent holders, free use does not (whenever end user does not pay to watch). I dont know how ad supported streams are categorized, probably commercial. For personal use, I wouldnt worry about the license. Worry when you start a streaming server and start making revenue.

        • d_k_bo@feddit.org
          link
          fedilink
          English
          arrow-up
          7
          ·
          1 month ago

          That depends on where you live. In many parts of the world, software patents don’t exist and aren’t applied.