Hacker News Reader

2027

http://www.osnews.com/story/24954/US_Patent_Expiration_for_M...

That is actually a good question. Mp3 is now patents free as well.

And both standards are “good enough” for most use cases and are supported by an overwhelming majority of hardware devices. Once h264 goes off patent, the interest in more advanced formats will dwindle.

It will be good enough, for things like Gif replacement. For Video though I think we still have long way to go.

Or once all the AVC patents expire, what additional tools, like new encoding and tools from Open Sources like Daala we could add to, to form a new baseline codec for the web, that is truly Patents free.

The current AV1 is only royalty free.

When will all AAC patents expire? It is over 20 years since AAC introduction.

Probably 2020 or later.

Hopefully it will go the way copyrights are going and never be patent-free... /s