The HEVC extension isn’t free because – and someone has to pay them. Microsoft’s $0.99 charge simply reflects what it pays to patent holders. If you don’t want to pay, use a royalty‑free codec like AV1 or rely on hardware decoding already included in your device.
Interestingly, you might already have "paid" for HEVC without knowing it. Most modern GPUs (Nvidia, AMD, Intel) and smartphone processors have HEVC hardware decoding built-in. The manufacturer paid the licensing fee when they built the chip.
The short answer is . While it might seem like a simple software update, HEVC (High Efficiency Video Coding), also known as H.265, is proprietary technology owned by a massive group of companies. why is hevc extension not free
For HEVC, the landscape fragmented. While MPEG LA offers a license for HEVC, a second pool called HEVC Advance emerged, and a third entity, Velos Media, also asserted patent rights. This fragmentation meant that companies wishing to support HEVC could not simply pay one fee; they potentially had to negotiate with multiple entities or pay higher rates to cover all bases. This created a complicated and expensive environment for software distributors, who must pay royalties for every copy of the software distributed.
This licensing cost directly impacts the end user through the strategy of operating system vendors, most notably Microsoft. Historically, Windows included support for a wide array of codecs as part of the base operating system cost. The licensing fees were absorbed into the price of the Windows license. The HEVC extension isn’t free because – and
Third-party players like VLC come with their own internal libraries to decode HEVC. Because they are open-source and often based in jurisdictions with different patent laws, they can play your files for free without requiring the Windows system extension.
Microsoft used to offer a "HEVC Video Extensions from Device Manufacturer" version for free on the Store, intended for PCs that already had the license bundled with the hardware. While harder to find now, some direct links still work. Interestingly, you might already have "paid" for HEVC
Example: HEVC Advance charges $0.20 per smartphone sold, up to $40 million/year.