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The LAME Project

The LAME Project develops LAME, an MPEG Audio Layer III (MP3) encoder distributed as source code. LAME is licensed under the GNU Library General Public License, and many third-party ripping and encoding programs include its encoding engine.

Licensing at a Glance

  • Open source

  1. LAME is a high quality MPEG Audio Layer III (MP3) encoder licensed under the LGPL.[1]

  2. LAME is distributed as source code only; many ripping and encoding programs include the LAME encoding engine.[2]

  3. LAME may be used in commercial programs under the restrictions of the LGPL; the project suggests linking to it as a separate library, acknowledging its use, and releasing any modifications to LAME under the LGPL.[3]

  4. The decoding functions in LAME use a GPL-licensed version of the mpglib engine, which may not be used by programs not released under the GPL without permission from the MPG123 project.[4]

  5. The LAME README advises that some companies may claim software patents over parts of LAME and suggests seeking legal advice before deploying or redistributing it where software patents are recognised.[5]

Products

References

  1. LAME MP3 Encoder · lame.sourceforge.io · retrieved 2026-09-27
  2. LAME MP3 Encoder :: About · lame.sourceforge.io · retrieved 2026-09-27
  3. LAME license.txt · lame.sourceforge.io · retrieved 2026-09-27
  4. LAME license.txt · lame.sourceforge.io · retrieved 2026-09-27
  5. LAME README · sourceforge.net · retrieved 2026-09-27
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