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https://www.ffmpeg.org/legal.html
The above page doesn't make any thing clear if we can use the libraries in commercial projects or not.
Incase if there are algorithms breaking patents, which formats I shouldn't support to avoid risk?
In short, Which way its safer to add ffmpeg to create a multi media app for iOS and Android (and may be later to desktop too).
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Yes, you can use FFmpeg in a commercial product It is also available under the General Public License (GPL) version 2 or later. Some features, external libraries (libx264 and libx265 for example), and various filters, require GPL. If those parts get used the GPL applies to all of FFmpeg.
Yes, it is legal. FFmpeg is released under GNU Lesser General Public License (LGPL) version 2.1 or later. Some external libraries like libx264 get released in GPL 2 or later. But both of them have permissions for free/commercial usage, distribution, or modification.
Note that FFmpeg is not available under any other licensing terms, especially not proprietary/commercial ones, not even in exchange for payment.
FFmpeg is a free and open-source software project consisting of a suite of libraries and programs for handling video, audio, and other multimedia files and streams.
Beware : am not a lawyer, if this question is intended for a serious production, you should seek legal advice from a specialized lawyer.
FFmpeg has parts that are LGPL, GPL, and 3rd party libraries (e.g libx264, libmp3lame..) have their own licenses too.
The legal checklist you linked at actually seems suited for a commercial application. The most important parts are not compiling with either --enable-gpl or --enable-nonfree and linking your program dynamically to the libraries.
This will automatically disable any codec whose code license is incompatible with a closed-source binary release, for example GPL.
If your commercial application is going to be open-source, then you may use --enable-gpl.
Please note that you are under obligation to release the FFmpeg's LGPL source code that you used, including any modifications you might have done directly to it.
Finally, if your program will allow the end-user to encode with patented formats (H.264, AAC [..]), you should do your homework on the laws concerning patented software in your jurisdiction, as the MPEG-LA may come knock at your door.
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