# Source: codeclicence.adoc

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== Licence key and codec options

Hardware decoding of additional codecs on the Raspberry Pi 3 and earlier models can be enabled by https://codecs.raspberrypi.com/license-keys/[purchasing a licence] that is locked to the CPU serial number of your Raspberry Pi.

The Raspberry Pi 4 has permanently disabled hardware decoders for MPEG2 and VC1. These codecs cannot be enabled, so a hardware codec licence key is not needed. Software decoding of MPEG2 and VC1 files performs well enough for typical use cases.

The Raspberry Pi 5 has H.265 (HEVC) hardware decoding. This decoding is enabled by default, so a hardware codec licence key is not needed.

=== `decode_MPG2`

`decode_MPG2` is a licence key to allow hardware MPEG-2 decoding, e.g. `decode_MPG2=0x12345678`.

=== `decode_WVC1`

`decode_WVC1` is a licence key to allow hardware VC-1 decoding, e.g. `decode_WVC1=0x12345678`.

If you have multiple Raspberry Pis and you've bought a codec licence for each of them, you can list up to eight licence keys in a single `config.txt`, for example `decode_MPG2=0x12345678,0xabcdabcd,0x87654321`. This enables you to swap the same SD card between the different Raspberry Pis without having to edit `config.txt` each time.