I think you need to have a patent license to make a game/application with AAC playback, because it will work as an AAC decoder.
Quote:There are no patent license fees due on the distribution of bit-stream encoded in AAC, whether such bit-streams are broadcast, streamed over a network, or provided on physical media.
this only means you don't have to pay for distributing audio files encoded using AAC codec (MP4/M4A).
I think the only exception when you don't need a patent license, is if you're using a device that was manufactured by a company which already paid a patent license fee.
https://github.com/mstorsjo/fdk-aac/blob...NOTICE#L16
Quote:Patent licenses for necessary patent claims for the FDK AAC Codec (including those of Fraunhofer)
may be obtained through Via Licensing (http://www.vialicensing.com) or through the respective patent owners
individually for the purpose of encoding or decoding bit streams in products that are compliant with
the ISO/IEC MPEG audio standards. Please note that most manufacturers of Android devices already license
these patent claims through Via Licensing or directly from the patent owners, and therefore FDK AAC Codec
software may already be covered under those patent licenses when it is used for those licensed purposes only
Most Android devices have it, I think Windows 7 and newer have it too, because there is AAC decoding support in the operating system
https://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library...s.85).aspx
Quote:Minimum supported client - Windows 7 [desktop apps only]
And I think Mac and iOS have similar functionality.
To avoid any worries, I still recommend using Vorbis (optionally Opus) for sound and music when making games, which are completely free. Supposedly Opus has slightly better quality than Vorbis, however Vorbis is faster to decode on the CPU side, than Opus.
I always encode with Vorbis at 96 kbps (default encoding in EE Editor) and I never hear any difference between uncompressed original and the 96kbps Vorbis.
