The last MPEG-4 Visual patent has expired

Sources: Phoronix, HN discussion
Summary: Phoronix reported on 2026-07-19 that the last active MPEG-4 Visual patent, a Brazilian patent (BRPI0109962B1), expired that day. MPEG-4 Part 2 is the standard behind the Xvid and DivX codecs and is distinct from H.264. US and EU patents on the standard had already expired in prior years, so this removes the final patent claim on the codec family.
Comments: HN commenters clarify that MPEG-4 Part 2 is the H.263-lineage codec used by Xvid and DivX rather than H.264, and several hope the expiry increases open-source implementation support.
Why it matters: Full patent expiry removes a licensing constraint on encoding and decoding a widely deployed legacy codec, simplifying its inclusion in open-source multimedia tooling.