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GStreamer download for Transcribe! for Mac versions 8.6 to 9.0

For general information about using GStreamer with Transcribe!, see here.

Transcribe! versions 8.6 to 9.0 for Mac will use GStreamer if they find it. Transcribe! 9.1 and later for Mac has GStreamer built-in so there is no need to download it here. This means that if you are running macOS 11 or later then your best option is to download the current version of Transcribe! (free to existing users, it should recognise the license key you already have).

macOS 11 or later

 

macOS 10.10 - 10.15

If you are running macOS 10 then you can download a GStreamer installer here which is a cut-down version of the standard GStreamer distribution - we have removed plugins which Transcribe! would not have any use for, in order to save space and download time. Please read the section below about the GStreamer license.

Click here if you agree to the GStreamer license and want to download this cut-down version of GStreamer for use with Transcribe! for macOS 10.
This download will not work on macOS 11 or later - if you are running macOS 11 or later then you can update to Transcribe! 9.2 instead, see above.

Installation instructions

1) Download using the button above. When the download has completed, in Finder go to your Downloads folder and you will see gst1142setupmac3.zip, or possibly you will see GStreamer.framework instead which means that macOS has automatically unzipped it for you.

2) If the automatic unzip has not happened then double-click gst1142setupmac3.zip. It will be unzipped and now you will see a folder called GStreamer.framework in your Downloads folder.

3) On Finder's File menu select "New Finder Window", and in the new window on Finder's "Go" menu select "Go to Folder..." and type "/Library/Frameworks" (without the quotes) and press <enter>. Now you have two Finder windows, one of them showing GStreamer.framework that you just downloaded and the other showing some Mac system frameworks in the Frameworks folder.

4) There presumably won't be any GStreamer.framework already there in the Frameworks folder but if there is then drag it to the Trash. This will require you to enter your password - any change to system folders requires your password.

5) Drag the downloaded GStreamer.framework to the Frameworks folder. This will require your password.

6) Now re-launch Transcribe! and it will find GStreamer, which you can verify by loading any video (Transcribe! cannot display video without GStreamer).

GStreamer License

Here is the license message displayed by the official GStreamer installer. Much of it is addressed to people who are creating applications and therefore is not directly relevant to you as a user who wants to use GStreamer with Transcribe! The main point is that Transcribe! is not a derived work of GStreamer (after all, Transcribe! works perfectly well without GStreamer being present at all). Transcribe! links dynamically to GStreamer as a library if it is present, so for Transcribe! the crucial part of the text below is the part that says "you are free to link the LGPL software as a library used by other software under whichever license". For GStreamer plugins which have a GPL rather than a LGPL license the situation is more complicated. Some people say there is no problem, others say there may be a problem, depending on what jurisdiction you are in. Click here for more information about GStreamer licensing. My personal view is that people generally do not seem to think it is a problem, because if it was not permitted for a closed-source program to link at runtime to a GPL library then closed-source software would be impossible on Linux, and in fact there is lots of closed-source software for Linux.

License message displayed by the official GStreamer installer

Installer, default installation

The installer (Microsoft Windows and MacOSX) and the default installation (GNU/Linux) contain and install the minimal default installation. At install time or later, the downloading of optional components is also possible, but read on for certain legal cautions you might want to take. All downloads are from the freedesktop.org website.

Licensing GStreamer

Gstreamer minimal default installation only contains packages which are licensed under the GNU LGPL license v2.1. This license gives you the Freedom to use, modify, make copies of the software either in the original or in a modified form, provided that the software you redistribute is licensed under the same licensing terms. This only extends to the software itself and modified versions of it, but you are free to link the LGPL software as a library used by other software under whichever license. In other words, it is a weak copyleft license.

Therefore, it is possible to use GStreamer to build applications that are then distributed under a different license, including a proprietary one, provided that reverse engineering is not prohibited for debugging modifications purposes. Only the pieces of GStreamer that are under the LGPL need to be kept under the LGPL, and the corresponding source code must be distributed along with the application (or an irrevocable offer to do so for at least three years from distribution). Please consult section 6 of the LGPL for further details as to what the corresponding source code must contain.

Some portions of the minimal default installation may be under different licenses, which are both more liberal than the LGPL (they are less strict conditions for granting the license) and compatible with the LGPL. This is advised locally.

Optional packages

There are two types of optional packages, which are under a different license or have other issues concerning patentability (or both).

GPL code

Part of the optional packages are under the GNU GPL v2 or v3. This means that you cannot link the GPL software in a program unless the same program is also under the GPL, but you are invited to seek competent advice on how this works in your precise case and design choices. GPL is called "strong copyleft" because the condition to distributed under the same license has the largest possible scope and extends to all derivative works.

Patents

Certain software, and in particular software that implements multimedia standard formats such as Mp3, MPEG 2 video and audio, h.264, MPEG 4 audio and video, AC3, etc, can have patent issues. In certain countries patents are granted on software and even software-only solution are by and large considered patentable and are patented (such as in the United States). In certain others, patents on pure software solutions are formally prohibited, but granted (this is the case of Europe), and in others again are neither allowed nor granted.

It is up to you to make sure that in the countries where GStreamer is used, products are made using it and product are distributed, a license from the applicable patent holders is required or not. Receiving GStreamer - or links to other downloadable software - does not provide any license expressed or implied over these patents, except in very limited conditions where the license so provides. No representation is made. In certain cases, the optional packages are distributed only as source code. It is up the receiver to make sure that in the applicable circumstances compiling the same code for a given platform or distributing the object code is an act that infringes one or more patents.

Software is as-is

All software and GStreamer is provided as-is, without any warranty whatsoever. The individual licenses have particular language disclaiming liability: we invite you to read all of them. Should you need a warranty on the fact that software works as intended or have any kind of indemnification, you have the option to subscribe a software maintenance agreement with a company or entity that is in that business. Fluendo and Collabora, as well as some other companies, provide software maintenance agreements under certain conditions, you are invited to contact them in order to receive further details and discuss of the commercial terms.