Restricted Multimedia Formats - The Problem

[Santiago Roza]

I tried to post this in the Ubuntu wiki, but apparently mere mortals
:) can't create new pages, so I'll post it here.

It has three parts: Problem, Solutions, and Specs (for one of the
solutions); which I'll send in consecutive emails.

I'm sorry if this is not the place, but I couldn't think of a better
one.  If someone has any suggestion (especially on how to get this to
the Ubuntu wiki, and/or the development team), please let me know.



*** Restricted Multimedia Formats - The Problem ***

The problem with restricted multimedia formats is complex, and can be
divided in:

1) the ones with Free Software implementations.
2) the ones without Free Software implementations, but with
binary-only Linux players.
3) the ones without any of the above.

The proposed solutions for these limitations are discussed [here]


1) Restricted formats with Free Software implementations.

Distributing support for these formats seems easy, but it's still
illegal in certain countries (such as the USA), because they use
technologies covered by software patents and/or their
reverse-engineering violates the DMCA.

- MP3 audio.
- MPEG-2 video with MPEG and/or Dolby Digital audio (DVD)
- MPEG-4 video (DivX)
- MPEG-4 audio (AAC / iTunes)
- H.264 video (AVC)
- Windows Media Audio (WMA) and/or Video (WMV), up to v8
- QuickTime movies (old) with Sorenson video and QDesign audio
- QuickTime movies (new) with MPEG-4 video and AAC audio
- QuickTime movies (v7) with H.264/AVC video and AAC audio

Although many of these formats have legal (and free-of-cost)
binary-only Linux implementations, distributing those is also complex:
GPL applications (like Totem) can't legally link to non-Free packages,
unless their authors make an exception.


2) Restricted formats without Free Software implementations, but with
binary-only Linux players.

Distributing non-Free software to decode these formats would be legal,
but would conflict with Ubuntu's commitment to only include Free
Software by default.

- Macromedia Flash
- RealMedia: RealAudio and/or RealVideo

Although there are ongoing efforts to create Free Software
implementations of these formats, they are still not mature enough to
include them in Ubuntu.  And even if they evolve to that point in the
future, we'd have the problem of category 1).


3) Restricted formats without neither Free Software implementations,
nor binary-only Linux players.

Until someone implements these formats, the only way to play them in
Ubuntu is by reusing Windows DLLs (with "w32codecs" for example),
which is illegal in almost any country: it violates basic copyright
laws, by redistributing software in an unauthorized way.

- Windows Media Audio (WMA) and/or Video (WMV), from v9.


--
Santiago Roza
Departamento I+D - Thymbra
santiago.roza at thymbra.com
-------------- next part --------------
*** Restricted Multimedia Formats - The Problem ***

The problem with restricted multimedia formats is complex, and can be divided in:

1) the ones with Free Software implementations.
2) the ones without Free Software implementations, but with binary-only Linux players.
3) the ones without any of the above.

The proposed solutions for these limitations are discussed [here]


1) Restricted formats with Free Software implementations.

Distributing support for these formats seems easy, but it's still illegal in certain countries (such as the USA), because they use technologies covered by software patents and/or their reverse-engineering violates the DMCA.

- MP3 audio.
- MPEG-2 video with MPEG and/or Dolby Digital audio (DVD)
- MPEG-4 video (DivX)
- MPEG-4 audio (AAC / iTunes)
- H.264 video (AVC)
- Windows Media Audio (WMA) and/or Video (WMV), up to v8
- QuickTime movies (old) with Sorenson video and QDesign audio
- QuickTime movies (new) with MPEG-4 video and AAC audio
- QuickTime movies (v7) with H.264/AVC video and AAC audio

Although many of these formats have legal (and free-of-cost) binary-only Linux implementations, distributing those is also complex: GPL applications (like Totem) can't legally link to non-Free packages, unless their authors make an exception.


2) Restricted formats without Free Software implementations, but with binary-only Linux players.

Distributing non-Free software to decode these formats would be legal, but would conflict with Ubuntu's commitment to only include Free Software by default.

- Macromedia Flash
- RealMedia: RealAudio and/or RealVideo

Although there are ongoing efforts to create Free Software implementations of these formats, they are still not mature enough to include them in Ubuntu.  And even if they evolve to that point in the future, we'd have the problem of category 1).


3) Restricted formats without neither Free Software implementations, nor binary-only Linux players.

Until someone implements these formats, the only way to play them in Ubuntu is by reusing Windows DLLs (with "w32codecs" for example), which is illegal in almost any country: it violates basic copyright laws, by redistributing software in an unauthorized way.

- Windows Media Audio (WMA) and/or Video (WMV), from v9.