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by white-moss 2613 days ago
OpenShot uses ffmpeg, so I'm always concerned patents like h.264, h.265, etc. Open-source video editor is very very great, but software patents prevent that popularization. I know that end-user will unlikely asked responsibility, but editing video means you may be content distributor, not just a end-user...I have a little fear for that. And patent license cost is not cheap. Am I paranoiac?
2 comments

Yeah, pretty much. I mean, it's not as if there's zero risk, but for all intents and purposes, if you are not selling your encoded content, there is zero risk.

The software patents have not prevented Handbrake or OBS from being popular. They won't prevent OpenShot from being popular either.

But, aside from all that: If you are really paranoid, then use AV1 and Opus. FFMpeg is just as capable of encoding to fully free formats. Or do your final encode using a licensed product (On Mac, Compressor is relatively inexpensive - $50), and use open source software for everything else.

Hm, you are right. I was paranoiac.

Then, I'll bet on AV1. Final encoder method also sounds good.

Thank you for your reply!

> OpenShot uses ffmpeg, so I'm always concerned patents like h.264, h.265

If these opensource projects were infringing on these codec patents, they would have been shutdown a long time ago ...