What License Is libavif Distributed Under?

This article provides a quick overview of the open-source license governing libavif, the official portable C library used for encoding and decoding AVIF (AV1 Image File Format) images. It explains the specific terms of the license and how they impact developers looking to integrate the library into their software applications.

The libavif library is distributed under the BSD 2-Clause “Simplified” License (sometimes referred to as the “FreeBSD License”). This is a highly permissive, OSI-approved open-source license that places minimal restrictions on how the software can be used.

Under the terms of the BSD 2-Clause License, developers are granted the freedom to: * Use the software commercially: You can integrate libavif into commercial and proprietary software products without paying licensing fees. * Modify the source code: You are allowed to alter, customize, and build upon the original codebase to suit your project’s specific needs. * Distribute the library: You can redistribute the original or modified code in both source and binary formats.

The primary condition of the BSD 2-Clause License is attribution. If you redistribute the software, you must retain the original copyright notice, the list of conditions, and the disclaimer in both the source code and the documentation accompanying the binary distribution.

Because of this highly permissive licensing model, libavif has been widely adopted across the tech industry, powering AVIF image support in major web browsers, operating systems, and image editing applications without legal friction.