[FFmpeg-user] I want to use FFmpeg in commercial product. Who do I need to contact?

[Dennis Mungai]

On Wed, 11 Mar 2020 at 17:58, Moritz Barsnick <barsnick at gmx.net> wrote:

> On Wed, Mar 11, 2020 at 10:26:27 -0400, Ted Park wrote:
> > > Where can I find out the cost of a license? Who can I talk to about
> signing
> > > documents?
>
> > I think you misunderstood, ffmpeg is largely based on free software, and
> you are granted the license you see when you run ffmpeg -L.
> > That is the license you already have. Can you post the output of ffmpeg
> -L? And if you are using the command line tool or the libraries?
> > Getting different terms for use is probably impossible, though people do
> offer paid support and development services.
>
> Please also look at the info collected here (which is not legal
> advice):
> https://www.ffmpeg.org/legal.html
>
> See also this excellent summary by Lou(?):
> https://video.stackexchange.com/a/14804
>
> In short (and I am not a lawyer either):
> - ffmpeg isn't open for alternative licensing with a commercial license
>   (as far as I know).
> - If you use the libav* libraries, you will have to understand whether
>   they fall under the GPL or the LGPL (depending on build options,
>   mainly) and what this implies for your program using the libraries.
> - If you use the command line tools, you probably "only" need to provide
>   the source you used for building, and the build process, to the
>   customers of your product which includes ffmpeg. (This surely also
>   applies to the source of ffmpeg's non-system dependencies, other
>   licenses may apply.)
> - At the same time, using ffmpeg's codecs and the likes *may* imply
>   license costs to other owners. See the "Patent Mini-FAQ" under said
>   link, especially the last question. Do consult a lawyer!
>
> I hope I didn't write anything totally wrong.
>
> Cheers,
> Moritz


Moritz,

This response should be a wiki entry. We’ve seen multiple queries on the
same topic on this list, and this response summarizes it perfectly.