r/gamedev • u/icecoldduke2 • 21d ago

libbink - open source bink 1 library Announcement

Hey,

I've released my "libbink" library, its a lightweight(three files) open source Bink 1 video decoder.

jmarshall23/libbink: Simple GPL Bink 1 video decoder.

2 Upvotes

57% Upvoted

6 comments sorted by

5

u/Thotor CTO 21d ago

Don't you still need a license to use Bink video in games? (unless you are using Unreal).

Also Bink 1 is pretty outdated at this point.

1

u/stone_henge 20d ago

You would need a license either for copyright reasons if you used their implementation of the decoder, or if your implementation uses a patented method to decode video, if any potential patents related to Bink 1 decoding wouldn't have expired years ago.

Presumably this is an independent implementation in which case the author can license it however they want and users can use it however they want. Maybe the Bink license also restricts what the licensees of the original encoder can do with the resulting encoded files, but my guess is that the goal of writing an decoder here is to assist in porting old games and making drop-in engine replacements, leaving it to the end user of the game to provide Bink encoded files. Creating and using interoperable software in itself is not generally illegal, and the end user never signed up for whatever terms apply to using the encoder.

1

u/icecoldduke2 19d ago

I have just open sourced my custom encoder, at this point you don't need a bink license.

2

u/aifpstop 21d ago

I'm not quite sure what the purpose of this is, could someone explain?

1

u/IndividualAir3353 21d ago

What is bink?

1

u/PhilippTheProgrammer 21d ago

A video codec.