A 25-year-old video patent just expired, ending a legal headache for Linux

By  Simon Batt Published Aug 14, 2026, 1:30 PM EDT Simon is a Computer Science BSc graduate who has been writing about technology since 2014, and using Windows machines since 3.1. After working for an indie game studio and acting as the family's go-to technician for all computer issues, he found his passion for writing and decided to use his skill set to write about all things tech. Since beginning his writing career, he has written for many different publications such as WorldStart , Listverse , and MakeTechEasier . However, after finding his home at MakeUseOf in February 2019, he would eventually move on to its sister site, XDA, to bring the latest and greatest in Windows, Linux, and DIY electronics. Sign in to your XDA account Getting media to work on Linux is more complex than you may think. Not because of the technical aspects (although that, too, is pretty tricky), but because of the legality of distributing proprietary software and patent-encumbered codecs. While companies like Microsoft can grab a license and bake the tech into their products, it's a lot less feasible for Linux distributions designed to be freely downloaded and redistributed. Linux developers have used workarounds for this limitation for decades now; if you've ever downloaded a Linux distro and then spent some time enabling third-party repositories to get multimedia codecs, you already know what it's like. But one patent from 2001 prevented DivX videos from being patent-free worldwide, and the go…