An old question, but since I am working on this very problem, and I found a lot of outdated information, I think it might be worth the answer anyway.
Vitamio is based on ffmpeg , which makes the question "Vitamio vs ffmpeg" controversial:
What is Vitamio on the Vitamio website
The paragraph of Media Formats cites:
Vitamio used FFmpeg as demultiplexers and main decoders, many audio and video codecs are packaged in Vitamio along with the standard multimedia format built into the Android platform, some of which are listed below.
"used" instead of "uses" looks like a typo (the site is filled with them ...).
Therefore, the tip of the scale will indicate Vitaminio, it seems, since it is very easy to use. But...
Vitamio is a ffmpeg derivative work for android with an undefined license (it clearly wrote on the site that people are free to use the library for their own applications. This part was probably added after Marcus Walshon's answer)ffmpeg for android is a derivative work of ffmpeg (moreover, in fact: it is a port) and it was released under LGPL v3 to comply with its contractual terms with ffmpeg (in fact it does), transferring the same obligations to the user in a viral way (attribution, creation of the source of the library used for compilation, etc. etc.).ffmpeg (original work) is released under a double license: a very liberal GPL (no consequences in this discussion) and LGPL (the one that ffmpeg chose for android)
The following is strictly my biased personal opinion, not a statement of fact.
This makes me think that if the company selling Vitamio disagrees with the author of ffmpeg android and ffmpeg that we don't know anything about , Vitamio infringes the copyright of ffmpeg for android (and therefore ffmpeg).
The fact that there are a lot of broken links on the Vitamio website, grammatically disputed documentation, and not all the legal information needed for an educated choice does not exactly work in its favor if I had to think about considering their high profile company or someone trying to live behind the ffmpeg team ...
This leads me to the following considerations:
from a practical point of view, Vitamio may or may not be the best choice, as it is easy to integrate into your project (I say that it should be, since I have not had time to do it yet, and I have quite experience as an Android developer under my belt ...). This is because the software is based on ffmpeg for android, which is already making efforts for easy Android integration.
from a legal point of view, the situation is even darker, the following options are possible:
- close your eyes. The company behind Vitamio says that the product is in order and free to use (moreover, in fact: it sells the library), so if there is a problem with licensing, this is their problem: we have a semi-legitimate reason for the developers worry at some point, since we would be as deceived as the people behind ffmpeg (I'm not very sure about this whole argument ...).
- golf for honesty and avoid Vitamio, instead use ffmpeg for android instead, which can mean more homework during integration, both for
MediaPlayer replication and for LGPL compliance, but guarantees a clear conscience.
I have not thought yet, but I will probably choose "2"
Hope this helps
UPDATE Vitamio seems to (at least partially) comply with the terms of the LGPL license, as they publish the source code needed to build their product:
ffmpeg for Vitamio on github
I don’t have time to find out if all this is required to comply with the original ffmpeg license (I'm skeptical) and how this affects previous considerations (sorry).