FFmpeg: Can I replace libx264 with OpenH264 in order to go LGPL?

softwareengineering.stackexchange https://softwareengineering.stackexchange.com/questions/253599

  •  05-10-2020
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Question

I have some video processing to run and FFmpeg already contains much of what I need. However my videos are all compressed with H.264 video codec and libx264 is a GPL part of FFmpeg. On the other hand, the Constrained Baseline Profile is pretty enough for my application which means I could perfectly use OpenH264. So would it be possible both in theory and in practice to make this replacement?

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Solution

As OpenH264 is available under a permissive, BSD-style license, it it legally possible to create a version of it that will work as a codec for FFmpeg.
Given enough time, I am sure that it is also technically possible to create a FFmpeg compatible version of OpenH264.

The remaining question is if it makes economic/business sense to create a wrapper around OpenH264 or to modify OpenH264 itself to fit the expected codec API of FFmpeg. This question can only be answered by yourself.

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