The MPEG Licensing Association—the group responsible for handling the necessary patent licensing for use of MPEG video codec standards—has announced that it will not charge royalties for AVC/H.264 encoded video that is made available to view via the Internet for free. The group earlier this year had extended its limited moratorium on licensing fees for free Internet video until the end of 2015.

Today's announcement by the MPEG LA extends the time period of the moratorium for the life of its "AVC Patent Portfolio License," effectively making free-to-view H.264 encoded video royalty-free indefinitely. The MPEG LA noted that licensing fees will still be in effect for video that consumers pay for, such as AVC-encoded Blu-ray discs, on demand services like Hulu+, and pay-to-download services like iTunes.

The move to effectively eliminate licensing fees for free Internet video is likely an effort to prevent Google's new WebM standard, built with technology it gained from acquiring On2 last year, from gaining any serious traction as a de facto Web standard for video. Despite Google's backing and support planned for Chrome, Firefox, and Opera browsers, the MPEG LA has suggested that the VP8 codec used by WebM is likely covered by patents held by its member companies. If WebM does prove to be encumbered by the same patents as H.264, which is already widely used for online video, there would be little reason to switch away from H.264 in its favor.