[FFmpeg-devel] STF RaptorQ

[Devin Heitmueller]

On Thu, May 22, 2025 at 7:42 PM Kieran Kunhya via ffmpeg-devel
<ffmpeg-devel at ffmpeg.org> wrote:
> I wanted to put on the record that adding RaptorQ to FFmpeg isn't
> maintenance of FFmpeg.
>
> It's adding an obscure FEC protocol to FFmpeg, which is not going to be
> implemented well without an event loop anyway.
>
> I do not think it's a suitable STF project.

I see the task on the TRAC page for STF 2025, and while intellectually
interesting to a nerd like me who does lots of work with reliable
protocols, I'm not confident this particular protocol makes much sense
to work on, especially for 24,000 EUR.

I'm not sure I've seen any commercial gear that does RaptorQ for FEC,
so it's not clear what the use cases are if the goal is
interoperability.  If somebody really wants to be paid to work on
reliable transport protocols, the time would be better spent improving
the RIST or SRT integration, which is where most of the industry is
putting their energy.

I agree with Kieran that this seems to largely be outside the STF
objectives (i.e. sustainability for open source projects).

Devin

(1) https://trac.ffmpeg.org/wiki/SponsoringPrograms/STF/2025

-- 
Devin Heitmueller, Senior Software Engineer
LTN Global Communications
o: +1 (301) 363-1001
w: https://ltnglobal.com  e: devin.heitmueller at ltnglobal.com