Project Applicability
Project Name
Gyroflow
Project URL
https://gyroflow.xyz/
Project Source URL
https://github.com/gyroflow/gyroflow
Information & Context
Gyroflow (website, repo) is a video stabilization app that runs on Windows/Linux/Mac/Android/iOS. As of 2026年05月03日 it has 8500+ stars on GitHub and 7300+ users on the official Discord server. It seems to be widely known in the amateur filmmaking community. It's been featured in videos like this one with 200k+ views.
Gyroflow advertises itself as free software. The current README only contains this text under License:
Distributed under the GPLv3 License with App Store Exception. See LICENSE for more information.
As additional permission under section 7, you are allowed to distribute gyroflow_core through an app store, even if that store has restrictive terms and conditions that are incompatible with the GPL, provided that the source is also available under the GPL with or without this permission through a channel without those restrictive terms and conditions.
There are no other LICENSE files in the repository. The Github sidebar only says "GPL-3.0". There is no indication on the latest release page that you might be consenting to other licenses. The app itself doesn't display any kind of license information.
The only indication that something may be amiss is this statement from the README:
Gyroflow is written in Rust, with UI written in QML. It uses Qt, ffmpeg, OpenCV and mdk-sdk external dependencies for the main program, but the core library is written in pure Rust without any external dependencies.
mdk-sdk is a proprietary, closed-source blob, the author of which has ruled out an open-source release. Gyroflow's reliance on mdk-sdk can be confirmed through code search. The "key" which this blob requires to function is embedded here.
This dependency was pointed out to the primary author as a licensing issue in gyroflow#381 (2022) and #998 (2025). The author has cited various blockers to removing the dependency and refused to address the transparency concern, instead asking interested parties to contribute (presumably by substituting the dependency, as it's unclear to me how an outsider could possibly fix this snafu).
Looking at the list of common concerns, I think these would apply to Gyroflow:
- Non-FOSS Requirements ("code needing to be built using non-FOSS libraries or tooling")
- Source Poisoning ("requires code under a non-FOSS license to perform its advertised value & purpose")
- Overly Complex Licensing (have to carefully read documentation or trawl through issues to find out)
Note that the Gyroflow project also provides video editor plugins. These do not depend on mdk-sdk.
I've also filed this issue to give the primary author another chance to respond to these concerns.
### Project Applicability
- [x] I have read the scope and this project fits into it
### Project Name
Gyroflow
### Project URL
https://gyroflow.xyz/
### Project Source URL
https://github.com/gyroflow/gyroflow
### Information & Context
Gyroflow ([website](https://gyroflow.xyz/), [repo](https://github.com/gyroflow/gyroflow)) is a video stabilization app that runs on Windows/Linux/Mac/Android/iOS. As of 2026年05月03日 it has 8500+ stars on GitHub and 7300+ users on the official Discord server. It seems to be widely known in the amateur filmmaking community. It's been featured in videos like [this one](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HSHOe-hpZso) with 200k+ views.
Gyroflow advertises itself as free software. The [current README](https://github.com/gyroflow/gyroflow/blob/cd66168be400500ae5e6d00c9e53ac87b1125062/README.md) only contains this text under *License*:
> Distributed under the GPLv3 License with App Store Exception. See [LICENSE](https://github.com/gyroflow/gyroflow/blob/cd66168be400500ae5e6d00c9e53ac87b1125062/LICENSE) for more information.
>
> As additional permission under section 7, you are allowed to distribute gyroflow_core through an app store, even if that store has restrictive terms and conditions that are incompatible with the GPL, provided that the source is also available under the GPL with or without this permission through a channel without those restrictive terms and conditions.
There are no other LICENSE files in the repository. The Github sidebar only says "GPL-3.0". There is no indication on the [latest release](https://github.com/gyroflow/gyroflow/releases/tag/v1.6.3) page that you might be consenting to other licenses. The app itself doesn't display any kind of license information.
The only indication that something may be amiss is this statement from the README:
> Gyroflow is written in Rust, with UI written in QML. It uses Qt, ffmpeg, OpenCV and mdk-sdk external dependencies for the main program, but the core library is written in pure Rust without any external dependencies.
[mdk-sdk](https://github.com/wang-bin/mdk-sdk) is a proprietary, closed-source blob, the author of which has [ruled out an open-source release](https://github.com/wang-bin/mdk-sdk/issues/300). Gyroflow's reliance on mdk-sdk can be confirmed [through code search](https://github.com/search?q=repo%3Agyroflow%2Fgyroflow%20mdk&type=code). The "key" which this blob requires to function is embedded [here](https://github.com/gyroflow/gyroflow/blob/cd66168be400500ae5e6d00c9e53ac87b1125062/src/gyroflow.rs#L134).
This dependency was pointed out to the primary author as a licensing issue in [gyroflow#381](https://github.com/gyroflow/gyroflow/issues/381) (2022) and [#998](https://github.com/gyroflow/gyroflow/issues/998) (2025). The author has cited various blockers to removing the dependency and refused to address the transparency concern, instead asking interested parties to contribute (presumably by substituting the dependency, as it's unclear to me how an outsider could possibly fix this snafu).
Looking at the [list of common concerns](https://isitreallyfoss.com/concerns/), I think these would apply to Gyroflow:
* Non-FOSS Requirements ("code needing to be built using non-FOSS libraries or tooling")
* Source Poisoning ("requires code under a non-FOSS license to perform its advertised value & purpose")
* Overly Complex Licensing (have to carefully read documentation or trawl through issues to find out)
Note that the Gyroflow project also provides [video editor plugins](https://github.com/gyroflow/gyroflow-plugins). These do not depend on mdk-sdk.
I've also filed [this issue](https://github.com/gyroflow/gyroflow/issues/1151) to give the primary author another chance to respond to these concerns.