To further promote the continued growth of 4K-resolution video content, the HEVC Advance Alliance has decided to lower existing H.265/HEVC video coding technology licensing fees. At the same time, the maximum fee for high-volume users will be adjusted to allow these users to access this technology at a more reasonable price. Furthermore, licensing fees will be waived for some 4K content offered for free playback, potentially facilitating competition from video coding technologies such as Google's expansion of VP9.
The HEVC Advance Alliance announced earlier, will readjust the existing H.265/HEVC encoding technology licenses, including halving the technology licensing fees, and adjusting the charging cap for users such as Apple, Samsung or Netflix who use such encoding technology licenses in large quantities. The actual charging range will be controlled between US$250 million and US$4000 million, which will provide authorized users with a more reasonable charging method than before.
In addition, the HEVC Advance Alliance has announced that it will waive technology licensing fees for video service platforms that provide free playback. This will help content websites that publicly display content or rely on advertising for revenue save a lot of technical costs.
The HEVC Advance Alliance made this decision mainly because Google began to promote its VP9 open coding technology, which provides near-lossless compression and higher compression efficiency. It hopes to attract more content providers by reducing or even free licensing. It also hopes to become the mainstream specification for image coding technology, making it easier for various content to be restored and played with the same codec functions.
If the H.265/HEVC encoding technology currently used for 4K video becomes more widely adopted, it is expected to drive the popularization of 4K video and even further promote the growth of related hardware products such as televisions, cameras, and camcorders.
