Patent-safe video compression

Why patents matter for video codecs

Compression is a crowded field. A codec is made up of many individual tools, and many of those tools are covered by patents. Teams that ship or stream video can find themselves stuck with a codec that is exposed to patent claims and hard to change.

That exposure is easy to overlook early in a project and expensive to deal with later, especially when the codec is already built into hardware or a product.

Designing around patent-encumbered tools

We approach patent risk as an engineering problem. Our engineers work on compression internals, starting with video codecs, and we design around patent-encumbered tools from the start rather than treating licensing as an afterthought.

"Patent-safe" describes how we design: we aim to remove patent-encumbered tools from the codec and reduce your exposure to patent claims. It is an engineering approach, not a legal opinion or a guarantee, and we recommend that you review your specific situation with your own counsel.

Two ways we work

• Custom codec engineering: encoders and decoders designed from your requirements up, with licensing exposure in mind from the first design decision.
• Patent-risk redesign: we redesign an existing codec so that it works around patent-encumbered tools, reducing exposure to patent claims.

What to expect when you work with us

We start from your requirements: the hardware you run on, the bandwidth and latency you have, the network conditions you expect, and the licensing exposure you want to avoid. From there we design, build, and validate the codec around them.

Because we work on compression internals directly, we can explain why a design choice was made and what it means for performance, so you can decide with a clear picture of the trade-offs.

Where this applies

Streaming and broadcast teams want efficient delivery with licensing exposure designed out. Teams building their own products and platforms want a codec they can change when they need to. Legal and litigation support teams value deep technical knowledge of codec internals and the patent landscape.

Talk to us about your codec

If you are worried about the licensing position of a codec you use, or you are planning one, send us your requirements. We will tell you what is possible.