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HandBrake

HandBrake is an open-source video transcoder built by volunteers that converts video into MP4, MKV or WebM on Windows, macOS and Linux. It is free to use, and compiled builds are licensed under the GNU GPL version 2.

Licensing at a Glance

  • Open source
  • Freeware

  1. HandBrake is an open-source tool built by volunteers, free to use and available for Windows, Mac and Linux.[1]

  2. HandBrake is a post-production tool whose primary purpose is to convert videos from supported sources to MP4, MKV or WebM; it is not a video editor.[2]

  3. Most HandBrake files are under GPLv2, some under GPLv2+, LGPLv2.1+ or BSD/MIT-style licences, and a compiled HandBrake build is licensed under GPLv2.[3]

  4. Because the Fraunhofer fdk-aac library's licence is incompatible with GPLv2, fdk-aac is not included by default, and binaries combining it with HandBrake are neither free nor redistributable.[4]

Products

References

  1. HandBrake: Open Source Video Transcoder · handbrake.fr · retrieved 2026-09-27
  2. HandBrake Documentation — About HandBrake · handbrake.fr · retrieved 2026-09-27
  3. HandBrake LICENSE · github.com · retrieved 2026-09-27
  4. HandBrake LICENSE · github.com · retrieved 2026-09-27
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