Last updated on September 8th, 2018
Networking titan Cisco Systems says it will open source its implementation of the H.264 video codec and release it as a free binary download. But just because Cisco’s H.264 modules and code will be available to others at no cost doesn’t mean the codec is no longer patent-encumbered. The only thing making the free version possible is Cisco’s willingness to eat all of the patent licensing costs itself.