FAQ

Our goal is to make it an easy 1-2-3 process with you answering a few questions so we can provide you a quote. Contact us for more information!

Our Application Pricing is designed for application developers to add x264 into 'end user' applications. Royalty rates are 'per unit' or 'per milestone'.

x264 must always be bundled and not be provided as a stand alone encoding application.

The Professional license for x264 allows you to add it into 'low volume' and 'higher unit priced' applications. For this type of license the 'per unit' pricing is generally higher then 'Application Pricing' and the cost will vary based on 2 factors:
1) the per unit cost
2) the total number of units shipped.

The x264 Server Side license is defined as an install on a non-consumer/back-end server or workstation.

On average we charge about $100 per unit. A royalty 'unit' is defined as a single CPU. We do not charge 'per core' or 'per thread' like other solutions. Each CPU can have an unlimited amount of cores/threads at '0' additional cost. For example: A single server with four (4) CPU's that have 8 cores each (4x8=32 cores) would pay four (4) royalty units.

A Cloud license for x264 differs from our other licensing models as its about providing back-end encoding services for front-end clients. For example Amazon AWS or Cloud based Virtual Machine (VM) clients and servers.

Pricing will vary based on the expected number on units.

There is no difference in the source code, other then when you get a 'license' from us, it then allows you to use the --disable-gpl compilation option when compiling x264.

Getting a 'license' allows you to use x264 where the GPL license might be too restrictive to use. For example; within a proprietary application that cannot meet the requirements of using GPL licensed components.

It's different in that you must use the --disable-gpl compilation option when compiling. As the effects of this flag are public, you are able to see what changes are made.

No, it does not. You will need to get a separate patent license from MPEGLA, see: http://www.mpegla.com for more info .

No. we do not offer a pass-through patent license. It is the sole responsibility of the licensee to get a patent license from MPEGLA, see: http://www.mpegla.com for more info.

Yes, the main condition of the license is that you must provide your source code modifications back to x264 LLC. If the changes are useful, they will roll them back into the official x264 branch. So if a change helps you, it should help the x264 community.

For our licensee's or approved contributors, when you submit source code, x264 holds the rights to that contribution and will only commit source code into GIT repository if it is deemed as being of benefit to the project or licensee's.