I recently noticed that GNU Ring currently depends on several proprietary video codecs:
* H.264 * H.263 * MPEG-4 ASP The usage of those codecs (as implemented by ffmpeg) requires payment of royalties for use. It also prevents its inclusion in Linux distros such as Fedora [1]. However, Ring also supports free video codecs, such as VP8. I think it would make sense to: * Make dependence on proprietary codecs optional * Turn off proprietary codecs by default In addition, as far as I can tell, Ring does not need compatibility with legacy software. Especially because good alternatives are available, I think it would make sense to not support proprietary codecs at all, and instead rely on a baseline of VP8 and Opus (or VP9 and Opus). Thomas [1] https://lists.fedoraproject.org/archives/list/[email protected]/message/7EUHLUVNBCUKBLE3W2AHKJ4Y33QNYYXD/
