Android - FFmpeg Alternative to get video frames.

Question

Scenario:

I am working on a Android project where in one particular openGL page, I display videos.

FFmpeg is used to obtain frames from videos(as openGL does not support video as texture) and I am using the frames to obtain a video effect.

I am using pre-compiled FFmpeg binaries in the project.

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I was not aware of the level of legal implications of using the FFmpeg library. My superior brought this to my notice FFmpeg legal reference

Problem:

I am no legal expert, so only thing that I understood is that using FFmpeg in a comercial free app (but service needs to be paid for) is going to get me and my company into trouble :(

In no way the source or any part of the source of the project can be released.(The client is very strict about this.)

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Questions?

1) Is there any alternative to FFmpeg (which uses Apache or MIT license) that I can use to obtain video frames?

2) In openGL, getting the video frames and looping through - Is it the only way of playing a video? Is there any alternate method to achieve this functionality?

Answer 1

IANAL, but LGPL means that if you compile and use ffmpeg as shared library (.so file) or standalone executable, then you are fine - even in closed source application that you sell for money.