doc/reST/introduction.rst

   1 ************
   2 Introduction
   3 ************
   4
   5 Increasing demand for high definition and ultra-high definition video,
   6 along with an increasing desire for video on demand has led to
   7 exponential growth in demand for bandwidth and storage requirements.
   8 These challenges can be met by the new High Efficiency Video Coding
   9 (HEVC) standard, also known as H.265. The x265 HEVC encoder project was
  10 launched by MulticoreWare in 2013, aiming to provide the most efficient,
  11 highest performance HEVC video encoder.
  12
  13 About HEVC
  14 ==========
  15
  16 The High Efficiency Video Coding (HEVC) was developed by the ISO/IEC
  17 Moving Picture Experts Group (MPEG) and ITU-T Video Coding Experts Group
  18 (VCEG), through their Joint Collaborative Team on Video Coding (JCT-VC).
  19 HEVC is also known as ISO/IEC 23008-2 MPEG-H Part 2 and ITU-T H.265.
  20 HEVC provides superior video quality and up to twice the data
  21 compression as the previous standard (H.264/MPEG-4 AVC).  HEVC can
  22 support 8K Ultra High Definition video, with a picture size up to
  23 8192x4320 pixels.
  24
  25 About x265
  26 ==========
  27
  28 The primary objective of x265 is to become the best H.265/HEVC encoder
  29 available anywhere, offering the highest compression efficiency and the
  30 highest performance on a wide variety of hardware platforms. The x265
  31 encoder is available as an open source library, published under the
  32 GPLv2 license. It is also available under a commercial license, enabling
  33 commercial companies to utilize and distribute x265 in their solutions
  34 without being subject to the restrictions of the GPL license.
  35
  36 x265 is developed by `MulticoreWare <http://www.multicorewareinc.com>`_,
  37 leaders in high performance software solutions, with backing from
  38 leading video technology providers including `Telestream
  39 <http://www.telestream.com>`_ and `Doremi Labs
  40 <http://www.doremilabs.com>`_ (and other companies who want to remain
  41 anonymous at this time), and with contributions from open source
  42 developers.  x265 leverages many of the outstanding video encoding
  43 features and optimizations from the x264 AVC encoder project.
  44
  45 The x265 software is available for free under the GNU GPL 2 license,
  46 from https://bitbucket.org/multicoreware/x265.  For commercial companies
  47 that wish to distribute x265 without being subject to the open source
  48 requirements of the GPL 2 license, commercial licenses are available
  49 with competitive terms.  Contact license @ x265.com to inquire about
  50 commercial license terms.
  51
  52 While x265 is primarily designed as a video encoder software library, a
  53 command-line executable is provided to facilitate testing and
  54 development.  We expect x265 to be utilized in many leading video
  55 hardware and software products and services in the coming months.
  56
  57 LEGAL NOTICES
  58 =============
  59
  60 The x265 software is owned and copyrighted by MulticoreWare, Inc.
  61 MulticoreWare is committed to offering the x265 software under the GNU
  62 GPL v2 license.  Companies who do not wish to integrate the x265
  63 Software in their products under the terms of the GPL license can
  64 contact MulticoreWare (license @ x265.com) to obtain a commercial
  65 license agreement.  Companies who use x265 under the GPL may also wish
  66 to work with MulticoreWare to accelerate the development of specific
  67 features or optimized support for specific hardware or software
  68 platforms, or to contract for support.
  69
  70 The GNU GPL v2 license or the x265 commercial license agreement govern
  71 your rights to access the copyrighted x265 software source code, but do
  72 not cover any patents that may be applicable to the function of binary
  73 executable software created from the x265 source code.  You are
  74 responsible for understanding the laws in your country, and for
  75 licensing all applicable patent rights needed for use or distribution of
  76 software applications created from the x265 source code.  A good place
  77 to start is with the `Motion Picture Experts Group - Licensing Authority
  78 - HEVC Licensing Program <http://www.mpegla.com/main/PID/HEVC/default.aspx>`_.
  79
  80 x265 is a registered trademark of MulticoreWare, Inc.  The x265 logo is
  81 a trademark of MulticoreWare, and may only be used with explicit written
  82 permission.  All rights reserved.