The openSUSE developers have implemented a simplified installation scheme for the H.264 video codec in the distribution. A few months ago, packages with the AAC audio codec were also included in the distribution (using the FDK AAC library), which is recognized as an ISO standard, defined in the MPEG-2 and MPEG-4 specifications, and is used in many video services.
The distribution of H.264 video compression technology requires royalty payments to the MPEG-LA organization, but by using open libraries, the OpenH264 codec can be utilized in third-party products without paying royalties, as Cisco, which develops the OpenH264 project, is a licensee of MPEG LA. However, one nuance is that the right to use the patented video compression technologies is only transferred for builds that are distributed by Cisco, for example, downloaded from the Cisco website, which prevents us from placing OpenH264 packages in the openSUSE repository.
To solve this problem, a separate repository has been added to the distribution, where the binary build of the codec is organized for download from Cisco's site (ciscobinary.openh264.org). The codec build is created by the openSUSE developers, signed with an official digital signature from openSUSE, and sent for distribution to Cisco, meaning the entire package's internal structure remains the responsibility of openSUSE, and Cisco cannot make changes or replace the package.
The openh264 repository will be activated by default for new installations of openSUSE Tumbleweed in the next ISO image update and will also be added to the openSUSE Leap 15.5 branch starting with the beta release. Until the repository is activated by default, to install components supporting H.264, the user just needs to execute: sudo zypper ar http://codecs.opensuse.org/openh264/openSUSE_Leap repo-openh264 sudo zypper in gstreamer-1.20-plugin-openh264
Source: opennet.ru
