{{Short description|Free and open source software library for decoding MPEG-1 and MPEG-2 video data}} '''libmpeg2''' is a free and open source software library for decoding MPEG-1 and MPEG-2 video streams. libmpeg2 is released under the terms of the GNU GPL license.
==Legality and software patents== Since the libmpeg2 source code library is released under free and open source license it is legally redistributable. However, the MPEG-2 compression algorithm method is owned by the MPEG Licensing Authority and are in some countries protected by software patents. Absent such a licence from the MPEG Licensing Authority, it could possibly be illegal in certain countries to distribute compiled versions of libmpeg2 for the purpose of decoding MPEG-1 and/or MPEG-2 video streams. In February 2018, all MPEG-2 patents have expired for any country except Malaysia and the Philippines.<ref>{{cite web |title=MPEG-2 Patent List |url=http://www.mpegla.com/main/programs/M2/Documents/m2-att1.pdf |access-date=2018-11-08 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110405220357/http://www.mpegla.com/main/programs/m2/Documents/m2-att1.pdf |archive-date=2011-04-05 |url-status=dead }}</ref>
==References== {{Reflist}}
==External links== * [http://libmpeg2.sourceforge.net libmpeg2 official website]
Category:Video libraries