Tuesday, November 8th 2022
MPEG LA Takes Measures to Assist VVC Adoption
MPEG LA, LLC today announced measures to bring its pool license for Versatile Video Coding, or VVC (introduced to the market on January 27, 2022), into conformity with market realities that will free implementers to invest in VVC adoption. First, a waiver of royalties for standalone (not in or with hardware) VVC software products Sold (with or without compensation or consideration) to an End User is available to any VVC Licensee that commits to becoming a Licensor to MPEG LA's VVC License if they or their Affiliates presently or in the future have the right to license or sublicense VVC Essential Patents. Products to which the waiver applies will still benefit from coverage as licensed products under the VVC License.
Second, a 25% VVC royalty discount is available to any VVC Licensee that enters into and is compliant with MPEG LA's AVC Patent Portfolio License, HEVC Patent Portfolio License and VVC Patent Portfolio License.
"We congratulate the VVC patent owners for their understanding and foresight in adopting these initiatives," said Larry Horn, President and CEO of MPEG LA. "Investments in new e-commerce and advertiser supported services that utilize standalone software will lead the adoption of next generation video and these initiatives will accommodate it. In addition, they provide a pathway to reducing the cost of incorporating next generation video coding technology in devices that include legacy coding technologies. In over 25 years as the world's market leader in digital video standards licensing, MPEG LA respects that decisions to adopt new video standards are for the market to make based on technical, economic and other factors. The market doesn't build business models around licensing terms. It builds business models to generate new products that enhance the quality of life, and licensing terms must work in concert with rather than as an obstacle to their adoption."
More information on MPEG LA's VVC License as well as the VVC royalty discount and software products waiver may be found here.
MPEG LA's objective is to offer worldwide access to as many VVC Essential Patents as possible to everyone on the same terms under a single license. Any party that believes it has patents that are essential to the VVC standard is welcome to submit them for an evaluation of their essentiality by MPEG LA's patent experts and inclusion in the License if determined to be essential.
[Editor's note: VVC is also known as H.266 and MPEG-I Part 3]
Source:
MPEG LA
Second, a 25% VVC royalty discount is available to any VVC Licensee that enters into and is compliant with MPEG LA's AVC Patent Portfolio License, HEVC Patent Portfolio License and VVC Patent Portfolio License.
More information on MPEG LA's VVC License as well as the VVC royalty discount and software products waiver may be found here.
MPEG LA's objective is to offer worldwide access to as many VVC Essential Patents as possible to everyone on the same terms under a single license. Any party that believes it has patents that are essential to the VVC standard is welcome to submit them for an evaluation of their essentiality by MPEG LA's patent experts and inclusion in the License if determined to be essential.
[Editor's note: VVC is also known as H.266 and MPEG-I Part 3]
19 Comments on MPEG LA Takes Measures to Assist VVC Adoption
:)
www.winxdvd.com/video-transcoder/h266-vvc-vs-av1.htm
:)
I'm no proponent of the MPEG LA, but considering a lot of companies back VVC, it's way too early to say the standard is dead.
It'll most likely be used in a lot of professional solutions and it might end up in hardware in your home in a few years.
Let me see: ~50% less size/bandwidth just to stream crooked services (not 8k, which this format is more catered towards) woke Disney+ fake 4k ooooor... I just utlize my UNLIMITED bandwidth to rip and stream my own local content without being handcuffed? Decisions decisions!
With AMD, Intel, Nvidia, MTK etc. having hardware AV1 encoders and decodres in their chips now, also makes AV1 the more senisble standard for now.Players? I mean, HEVC is used for almost every type of encoded video out there. AV1 is only just now starting to take off, thanks to hardware support, but HEVC is the defacto standard right now.
:)
That said, it's unlikely to be as big as AV1 for streaming services, as you point out.
VVC reminds me of Rambus' RDRAM. DDR killed it, VVC is in my opinion probably a last chance for MPEG GA to make some money out of licensing.
I don't like proprietary codecs and licenses either, but if they provide significant advantages for some uses (costs vs benefits), they're going to get used.
However, keeping it closed source will make implementation difficult for most encoder software to support it, and that alone is enough of a hindrance.
Way I see it, the MPEG LA has an obsolete business model that is incompatible with modern digital realities. Backers or not, AV1's openness is a major score that most of the industry has happily jumped on board with.