MP3 patents expired, no more licensing issues

[AJP]

I just thought I'd post this here in case anyone hasn't heard; the MP3 licensing program is no more, thanks to MP3 patents expiring. Therefore, there is no longer any need to be afraid about unlicensed use of MP3s in games. Pretty good news.

Sources:

MP3 isn’t dead, but its licensing is

http://www.audioblog.iis.fraunhofer.com/mp3-software-patents-licenses/

[Alkher]

That's a good news !

[Mattlekim]

I second that. Awesome!

[MrValentine]

Yeah, smaller game projects now

Well more importantly, easier audio handling...

EDIT

Actually, I am curious... is it total licence or is software still affected? the hardware side is dead for sure but the wording on their site says otherwise...

[KonajuGames]

I'm still cautious about it. We have compressed streaming sounds that definitely allow use in the manner that we do, and if you want to use MP3 yourself you can. I wouldn't be changing our content pipeline to produce MP3 files any time soon though.

[AJP]

I don't know all of the implications of the change, but I assume that, at the very least, the requirement to pay money for using MP3s in a game with over 5,000 copies distributed no longer exists. A blog post from a few years back at the Scirra website mentions the fee, and the link they provide as a source now just redirects to the page on the Fraunhofer website that announces the ending of the licensing program.

[MrValentine]

http://www.audioblog.iis.fraunhofer.com/mp3-software-patents-licenses/

However, the end of the mp3 licensing program does not automatically mean that all mp3 technology is available license-free now. Apart from the core mp3 patents included in the licensing program, there might still be some implementation–specific patents (or patents for other functional enhancements) that have not expired. Thus, manufacturers will have to check the situation regarding their intended products first before including mp3.

Again a lot of vagueness and hardware related talk indicating it is still THERE but at the same time dead... weird...

I do recall a discussion a few years ago [On another forum] about the licence costs associated with games development being null and no longer required but thought it still had a time frame at the time still remaining... I suppose someone just needs to email them asking about it...

I thought the pipeline supported it anyway?

EDIT

You can put in a request here:
https://www.iis.fraunhofer.de/en/ff/amm/prod/audiocodec/audiocodecs/mp3.html#tabpanel-2

[Alkher]

They keep it unclear so people continue paying

[KonajuGames]

All the more reason to not change our current approach.