aps encode license agreement

software license

this license applies to aps-encode 1.0 and later. earlier versions were distributed under: Apache-2.0.

end user license agreement for aps software, version 1.0

this agreement is between you and Anchor Point Studio LLC, a Wyoming limited liability company, c/o Registered Agents Inc., 30 N Gould Street Suite R, Sheridan, WY 82801, USA ("we", "us"). it covers aps encode, the aps suite subscription where it covers aps encode, and the updates we send you for them.

by installing, activating or using aps encode you agree to this agreement. if you agree for a company or a studio, you confirm you may bind it, and "you" means that organization. if you do not agree, do not install or use aps encode, and ask us for a refund (section 6.1).

1. a few words we use

app: aps encode, in the version you installed, with its installer, updates and documentation.
key: the license key we give you after a purchase, in the form APS-XXXXX-XXXXX-XXXXX-XXXXX. one key per purchase. a suite key works in every suite app.
machine: one windows installation. section 3.1 says how we tell machines apart.
buy once: a one-time purchase of the app (section 2.1).
suite: the aps suite subscription (section 2.2 and annex E).
major version: the first number of a version. 1.4.2 is a 1.x release; 2.0 is a new major version.
store, account page: store.anchorpoint.studio and the account area on it.
third-party components: software inside the app that we did not write, listed in its third-party notices.
our suppliers: the companies whose components the app includes, among them RED Digital Cinema (section 8.4).

2. what you may do

2.1 buy once

when you buy the app once, we give you a limited, non-exclusive, non-transferable license to install and use it on up to 3 machines at a time, for any purpose, personal or commercial, for as long as you like. your license covers the major version you bought and every update we release for that major version (every 1.x update for a 1.x purchase). there is no end date and no update window.

if we ever release a new major version (a 2.0), that is a new purchase. your account page shows an owner discount for it. your 1.x keeps working and keeps receiving the 1.x updates we release. a 2.0 key also covers 1.x.

2.2 the aps suite

the suite is a subscription, monthly or yearly. while it is paid, you may install and use every app in the suite, including every app we add to it later, on up to 10 machines at a time. one key, every suite app.

it renews automatically on the card you gave square until you cancel. you can cancel at any time on your account page; the apps keep working until the end of the period you have paid for. if a renewal payment fails, the apps keep working for 7 days past the end of the paid period while square retries the card. if the payment still has not gone through by then, the suite apps stop starting new work until it does (section 3.3 explains what "new work" means). nothing you made is touched. annex E has the rest of the suite terms.

2.3 who may use a key

a key belongs to the person or organization that bought it. people who work for that organization (employees, and freelancers on its jobs) may use the app under its key within the machine limit. a key is not for a second organization, a client or a friend.

2.4 what you may not do

share, publish, sell, rent, lease, lend or give away a key or an installer we gave you, except a transfer under section 17.3. you may keep copies of the installer as a backup for your own machines.
resell, sublicense or redistribute the app, or bundle it into something you sell or give away.
bypass, disable or trick the license check, or run the app on more machines than your license allows by doing so.
remove or change the copyright, license or trademark notices in the app or its installer.
use the app to break the law or to infringe someone else's rights (section 9).

section 8 says what this agreement does not restrict: your rights under the open-source licenses of the third-party components.

3. machines, activation and online checks

3.1 what counts as a machine

each windows installation has an id that windows creates when it is installed. the app sends us a one-way hash of that id, never the id itself; the hash cannot be turned back into anything about you or your pc. so:

reinstalling windows makes a new machine. the old one stays on your key until you sign it out on your account page (self-service, any time).
a pc counts once on a suite key, however many suite apps it runs.
signing out is per pc, not per app. "sign this pc out" in any app, or on the account page, frees the seat for every app.
pcs cloned from one image can share an id and then count as one machine. managing that is up to you.
each machine also sends its windows computer name as a label so you can recognize it on the account page. you can rename the label there.

3.2 activation

the first time you run the app, paste your key, in the app or with aps-encode-cli license activate. the app asks our server for a license token for that machine. the server checks the key, the product and the seat count and answers. keys you have activated on a pc are kept on that pc, encrypted with windows data protection, so other aps apps on that pc can use them without you pasting again.

3.3 online checks

the app checks in with our server when you activate, about once a day while it runs and is online, and when you choose "check now". each successful check gives it a token that is good for up to 30 days (for the suite, not beyond the paid period and any grace). so the app keeps working offline for up to 30 days between checks.

a failed connection never changes anything. only an answer from our server can change the app's license state, so an outage on our side does not lock you out.
if 30 days pass without a successful check, the app stops starting new work (starting a batch or a conversion: start in the app, a headless --run-job, and the command line's convert, scan --run and decode) until it checks in. a batch that is already running finishes and writes its manifest, the command line's codecs, probe, synth, a plain scan, license and camera-sdk keep working, and nothing already written is touched.
if the server says the key was refunded, revoked or has lapsed, or that the machine was signed out, the app asks for a key again and tells you why.
the app notices when the pc clock has been turned back by more than a day and asks for a check before starting new work, so the 30 days cannot be stretched.
a 2.0 release does not run on a 1.x key. it tells you so and links to the upgrade. your 1.x keeps running.

3.4 what a check sends

on activation: your key, the app's name, the hashed machine id, the computer-name label, the app version and the windows version.
on each later check: the token, the hashed machine id and the app version.
on an update check: the token and the app version.
when you sign a pc out from inside an app: the token (or your key, if the app has no token) and the hashed machine id.
every request carries the app name and version in a header, and our server logs the ip address it came from for 30 days.

3.5 what a check never sends

your files, footage, file names, folders, or anything about what you worked on. the app has no analytics and no tracking. nothing leaves your pc except the license check, the update check and a feedback report you choose to send (section 5).

3.6 machines that are never online

a pc that can never reach the internet cannot activate by itself at launch. email [email protected] and we will sort something out. an offline activation file is planned for a later release.

4. updates and major versions

updates come only from our server. each update is checked twice before it is installed: a manifest signed by our server, and the windows code signature on the installer. the app refuses an update that fails either check.

aps encode downloads an update in the background and installs it when you close the app.
you can turn automatic updates off in the app. the account page always has the newest installer your license covers.
we may withdraw a build that turns out to be faulty. a withdrawn build is not offered any more; nothing on your pc is removed.
a buy-once license receives every update to its major version. the suite receives every update to every suite app while it is paid.
we do not promise that an update can be rolled back. keep the installer of a version you rely on; the account page keeps the ones your license covers.

5. feedback and crash reports

the app has a "send feedback" control and, after a crash, offers to send a report. sending is always your choice. a report contains your words, the app and windows version, your gpu name and driver, a summary of your settings with passwords and paths to secrets removed, and only the attachments you tick: a log tail, a crash dump (which contains stack memory), or a screenshot of the app window (off by default). the report never contains your key. the privacy policy says how long we keep reports. the app holds a report that could not be sent and sends it the next time it is online; you can delete it from the outbox before then.

6. refunds, revocation and ending the agreement

6.1 refunds

you can ask for a refund within 14 days of a purchase, for any reason, on your account page or by email. the refund policy on the store is part of this agreement. when a purchase is refunded, its key stops working at the next check and every machine on it is signed out.

6.2 card disputes

if you dispute a charge with your bank instead of asking us, the key is revoked as soon as square tells us about the dispute. if the dispute is decided in your favor and the charge reversed, the key stays revoked; if it is decided in ours, we reinstate the key. please ask us first: we refund within 14 days without questions.

6.3 revocation for breach

if a key is shared, resold or published, or used to bypass the license check, we may revoke it. we tell you by email and say why. a key revoked because it was deliberately shared, resold or published is not refunded. if you think we got it wrong, reply to that email and we will look again.

6.4 ending

you can stop using the app at any time; sign the machine out so the seat is free. when this agreement ends, your license to use the app ends and you must uninstall it. your files, footage, converted clips, manifests and settings are yours and are not affected. sections 7, 8, 10, 11, 12, 16 and 17 survive the end of this agreement.

7. if the license server ever goes away

the app needs our server for the checks in section 3. if we ever shut the license server down for good (because we stop trading, or end the aps line), every owner, and every suite subscriber whose subscription is active on the day we announce the shutdown, will receive a final build of each app they own or subscribe to, with the license check removed, through the account page or by email, before the server goes offline, and at no charge. we keep the signing keys for that build in offline escrow so it can be signed even if the server is already gone. this is a binding promise, and it passes to anyone who takes over the aps apps (section 17.3).

8. ownership, third-party components and open-source rights

8.1 ownership

the app is licensed, not sold. we and our suppliers keep all rights, title and interest in the app, including its copyright. anything you make with it is yours, in full.

8.2 third-party components

each app ships third-party components under their own licenses, listed in the app's third-party notices (in the app, in the install folder, and published at store.anchorpoint.studio/notices). those licenses, not this agreement, govern those components. if anything in this agreement conflicts with the license of a third-party component, that component's license wins for that component.

8.3 open-source components: what this agreement does not restrict

aps encode uses two sets of libraries licensed under the GNU lesser general public license, each installed as separate dlls beside its executables: the Qt 6 libraries of its window (aps-encode-gui.exe), under version 3, and the FFmpeg 8.1 libraries (avcodec, avformat, avutil, swscale and swresample), under version 2.1 or later, in a build with no GPL or non-free parts. nothing in this agreement limits the rights those licenses give you. in particular, you may:

modify those components for your own use;
replace them with your own build of the same or an interface-compatible version, and use the app with it;
reverse engineer the app as far as needed to debug such modifications (LGPL 2.1 section 6; LGPL 3 section 4).

the app does not check the integrity of its LGPL components and refuses nothing because one was replaced. the app running on a replaced component is unsupported, not forbidden. the source code of each LGPL component as we ship it, with its build configuration, is available as the third-party notices describe.

8.4 RED components

the "RED components" are the RED R3D SDK code compiled into aps-encode-cli.exe and aps-encode-gui.exe, and RED's decoder runtime once you have imported it. we do not ship RED's runtime: you download RED's free R3D SDK from RED yourself, under RED's own terms, and import its runtime into aps encode (annex C). RED Digital Cinema's SDK agreement requires the following terms, and they apply only to the RED components:

your right to use the RED components is limited and non-exclusive, and only as part of the app;
you may not copy the RED components except as part of the app, and you may not distribute, sell, sublicense, rent, lease or lend them;
you may not reverse engineer, decompile or disassemble the RED components, or otherwise try to discover their source code or the file formats they read, except where a law gives you a right that cannot be taken away;
RED and its suppliers keep all rights in the RED components; sections 11 and 12 apply to them for RED's benefit as well as ours;
some RED workflows need other RED software (REDCINE-X PRO, REDline). the app does not include it. you license it from RED under RED's own terms.

this section covers nothing but the RED components. it does not apply to the LGPL components, to section 8.3, or to anything else in the app. the RED components keep RED's own notices. the app is not made, endorsed or certified by RED, and RED does not guarantee its performance.

8.5 trademarks

anchor point studio and aps are our marks. RED, REDCODE and R3D are trademarks of RED Digital Cinema; Nikon of Nikon Corporation; Apple and ProRes of Apple; Avid and DNxHR of Avid Technology; Blackmagic RAW and DaVinci Resolve of Blackmagic Design; Adobe, DNG and CinemaDNG of Adobe; NVIDIA of NVIDIA; Windows of Microsoft. we name them only to say what a file or a program is. none of those companies made or endorsed the app.

9. acceptable use

use the app on footage, files and media you own or have the right to work with. do not use it to get around a technical protection measure or anyone's rights. you are responsible for what you do with it.

10. your footage and your data

the app works on your files, on your pc. we never see them. aps encode writes new files and leaves the originals alone. only its CinemaDNG output is lossless; ProRes, DNxHR and H.265 are lossy. check a converted clip in your editing software before you convert an archive, and keep your originals until you have. keep your own backups: the app does not replace them.

11. no warranty

the app is provided as it is. as far as the law allows, we and our suppliers make no promise that the app fits your purpose, works with every camera, file, drive, graphics card, driver or codec, is free of errors, or runs without interruption, and we and our suppliers exclude every implied warranty, including merchantability, fitness for a particular purpose and non-infringement. compatibility statements on the store describe what we tested and on what.

if you buy as a consumer, the law of your country may give you rights that cannot be excluded (for example statutory guarantees in the EU, the UK or australia). nothing here takes those away. the store's 14-day refund is in addition to them, not instead of them.

12. limits on our liability

as far as the law allows, neither we nor our suppliers are liable for indirect, incidental, special or consequential loss, or for lost footage, lost or corrupted data, lost profit or revenue, the cost of a re-shoot, or a claim by your client, however it arises, even if we were told it could happen. our total liability to you for anything connected with the app or this agreement is capped at the amount you paid us for the app (or, for the suite, the amount you paid in the 12 months before the claim). our suppliers have no liability to you at all.

nothing in this agreement limits liability for death or personal injury caused by negligence, for fraud, or for anything else a law says cannot be limited.

13. privacy

the store's privacy policy (anchorpoint.studio/privacy, with the additions for software) says what we hold about you and why: your email, your orders and your square customer id, your keys, hashed machine ids and computer-name labels, app and windows versions, 30 days of ip addresses in server logs, and feedback you send. you can export your data and delete your account on the account page.

14. age

the app is a tool for work. you must be old enough to make a binding contract where you live to buy it.

15. if you are a consumer in the EU or the UK

you have a right to withdraw from a purchase of digital content within 14 days without giving a reason. delivery of an app starts the moment your key is issued and you can download and activate. by ticking the box at checkout you ask us to start delivery at once and acknowledge that you lose your right of withdrawal when it starts. we record that choice on your order. our 14-day refund in section 6.1 applies regardless, so in practice you lose nothing.

16. governing law and disputes

this agreement is governed by the laws of the State of Wyoming, USA, without regard to its conflict-of-law rules. the united nations convention on contracts for the international sale of goods does not apply. if you are a consumer, you keep the protection of the mandatory law of the country you live in and may bring a claim in its courts; small claims stay open to you either way. otherwise the courts of the State of Wyoming, USA have jurisdiction. before anything formal, email [email protected]: most problems are sorted out in a few messages.

17. the rest

17.1 changes. the agreement you accepted applies to the version you installed. a new version of an app may come with a new agreement; the installer shows it and the store lists what changed. if you do not agree, keep using the version you have (buy once) or cancel (suite).

17.2 whole agreement. this agreement, its annexes, the refund policy and the product terms on the store are the whole agreement between us for the app. if a part is found unenforceable, it is limited as little as needed and the rest stands. not enforcing a term is not a waiver of it.

17.3 transfer. you may transfer a buy-once key to another person or organization once a year, free, by asking support; the old owner's machines are signed out and the new owner accepts this agreement. otherwise you may not transfer this agreement or a key. we may transfer this agreement to anyone who takes over the aps apps together with the promise in section 7.

17.4 export. you confirm you are not barred by sanctions or export law from receiving the app.

17.5 notices. we write to the email on your account. write to us at [email protected] or Anchor Point Studio LLC, c/o Registered Agents Inc., 30 N Gould Street Suite R, Sheridan, WY 82801, USA.

17.6 language. this agreement is in english. a translation is for convenience only.

contact: [email protected], Anchor Point Studio LLC, c/o Registered Agents Inc., 30 N Gould Street Suite R, Sheridan, WY 82801, USA.

annexes

each annex is part of this agreement for the app or plan it names. aps encode runs on windows 10 (22H2) and windows 11, 64-bit (x64). windows on arm is not supported.

annex C: aps encode

what it is: a batch converter for RAW video clips, with a window, a command line (aps-encode-cli) and a headless job runner (aps-encode-gui --run-job). it converts REDCODE RAW (.r3d) clips from RED cameras, including Nikon's R3D NE, to CinemaDNG, Apple ProRes 422 HQ, 4444 or 4444 XQ, Avid DNxHR HQX or 444, or H.265 10-bit (on an NVIDIA graphics card); ProRes, DNxHR and H.265 are written in a .mov file with PCM audio and timecode. CinemaDNG clip folders convert to CinemaDNG, downscaled to 6K, UHD, 2K, full hd or a custom size, with timecode, audio sidecars and metadata carried across. it is a buy-once app (section 2.1) and a suite app.
Qt (section 8.3 applies): the window uses the Qt 6 libraries (Core, Gui, Widgets, Network and their plugins) under the LGPL 3, dynamically linked as dlls next to aps-encode-gui.exe. you may replace them with your own build of the same major and minor version, modify them for your own use and debug those modifications. aps encode never checks the Qt dlls and refuses nothing because they were replaced. the LGPL 3 and GPL 3 texts, Qt's notices and the source link are in the notices file.
FFmpeg (section 8.3 applies): aps encode uses the FFmpeg 8.1 libraries (avcodec, avformat, avutil, swscale and swresample) under the LGPL 2.1 or later, installed as separate dlls next to aps-encode-cli.exe and aps-encode-gui.exe. it is an LGPL build of FFmpeg, with no GPL or non-free parts. you may replace those dlls with your own build of an interface-compatible FFmpeg version, modify them for your own use and debug those modifications. aps encode never checks the FFmpeg dlls and refuses nothing because they were replaced. the LGPL 2.1 text, FFmpeg's notice and the source offer, with the build configuration, are in the notices file.
other components: the Microsoft Visual C++ runtime dlls (Microsoft's distributable code terms), the MIT nlohmann/json and BSD CLI11 libraries compiled into the executables, the Monocypher signature library (CC0 / BSD-2) used to verify license tokens and update manifests, the aps font (a renamed derivative of Inter under the SIL Open Font License 1.1, built into the window; its license is in licenses\APSFont-LICENSE.txt), and the Inno Setup installer runtime.
RED components (section 8.4 applies): aps-encode-cli.exe and aps-encode-gui.exe contain RED R3D SDK code, compiled in. RED's decoder runtime is not included. to convert clips from RED cameras, you download RED's free R3D SDK from RED, under RED's own terms, and import its runtime with "add RAW video support" in the app or with aps-encode-cli camera-sdk import. aps encode keeps the imported runtime in %localappdata%\aps\aps-encode\redsdk and loads it only if it matches the sha-256 fingerprints aps encode was built for. CinemaDNG clips need no RED runtime.
blackmagic and other formats: aps encode does not convert Blackmagic RAW, ProRes RAW, ARRIRAW or Canon RAW, and includes no Blackmagic software.
other programs: none are included. H.265 output needs an NVIDIA graphics card and NVIDIA's driver, which you install yourself. clips from RED cameras need RED's free R3D SDK, which you download from RED. its output is for an editor that reads CinemaDNG or .mov files, such as DaVinci Resolve, which you license from its maker.
what it writes: converted clips in the output folder you choose, never over your originals; in archive mode, checked copies of the source files and a json manifest; its settings in your windows user profile and its logs in %localappdata%\APS Encode\logs; the RED runtime you import, in %localappdata%\aps\aps-encode\redsdk; its license files; and, if you tick it in setup, an entry that puts aps-encode-cli on your path. uninstalling removes the app and the RED runtime you imported, and keeps its settings and logs; it never touches your clips or outputs.
what the key unlocks: starting a conversion in the window or a headless --run-job, and the command line's convert, scan --run and decode. the command line's codecs, probe, synth, a plain scan, license and camera-sdk work without a key, so you can inspect files, add RAW video support and test your setup first.
check before you convert an archive: only CinemaDNG output is lossless. ProRes, DNxHR and H.265 are lossy: they keep less than the original. the ProRes, DNxHR and H.265 files made from RED clips keep the camera's wide-gamut log color (REDWideGamutRGB / Log3G10), so set the input color space in your editor or the picture looks flat. your editing software decides what it reads: convert one clip and open it in your editor before you convert a drive. an archive run whose manifest says complete: false had a failure; read the log before you delete anything.

annex E: the aps suite

what it is: one subscription key that works in every suite app, now and later. the suite page on the store lists the apps included on the day you subscribe.
terms: section 2.2. monthly or yearly, auto-renewing on your square card, cancel any time on the account page, works to the end of the paid period after you cancel, 7-day grace on a failed renewal, 10 machines at a time, and one pc counts once however many suite apps it runs.
new apps: an app we add to the suite is yours while you subscribe, at no extra charge.
an app leaving the suite: we tell you by email at least 90 days before an app leaves the suite. its last build before it leaves keeps working for you while your subscription is active, and section 7 covers it if the license server ever goes away.
price changes: we tell you by email at least 30 days before a renewal at a new price. you can cancel before it renews.
a suite key does not turn into buy-once: if you cancel, the suite apps stop starting new work at the end of the paid period. buying an app once is a separate purchase.

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