Adding mp4 support for Godot(with respect to the licenses)

sdsaati

Hi, I know that there is a lack of mp4 player in Godot, by ignoring many license issues there are a lot of users that like to use mp4(it's popular). I read this link https://godotforums.org/discussion/comment/50980#Comment_50980 and as Calinou told there:

Godot only supports the Ogg Theora, VP8 and VP9 video codecs. H.264 is not supported as it's patent-encumbered. You need a license to use H.264 in commercial applications in countries that enforce software patents (which includes the US and many others) Ok, all these are true, my suggestion is, adding mp4 support in Godot with a warning about the license, those who want to use it in an open-source, they can use that, and also those who are living in countries that let them to use also can benefit it. I can accept to write and add this feature to Godot, but before starting, I just wanted to get a permission about it by admins and staffs and see if it's already inside Godot 4 or not. thank you guys!

Megalomaniak

Godot having that support in core would itself be subject to these licensing issues not just the following end users.

You might want to consider either a plugin implementing the support or perhaps make a fork of the engine and implement a module level support for the format.

I doubt(this is just an opinion tho) that such an inclusion would be accepted into upstream core however.

sdsaati

Thank you for the response! having these features with a warning about license in the core of Godot maybe was the ideal way, because many users just know gdscript, and want to use mp4 and other formats(and codecs inside them). but I will try, let's see what will happen :)

Calinou

This needs to be implemented in an add-on to avoid "tainting" official Godot binaries with H.264 patent restrictions. The restrictions apply as soon as you integrate a decoder/encoder in your program, even if you never use it in practice.