Five years ago this week…. Back in June 2020, the video codec world was rocked by the abrupt resignation of MPEG founder Leonardo Chiariglione, who quit in spectacular fashion, accusing the ISO of being a feudal empire and declaring MPEG “dead” in a flurry of bitter blogposts. But behind the drama, the group was undergoing internal restructuring—elevating subgroups and reshuffling leadership, with Microsoft’s Gary Sullivan stepping in. MPEG standards like VVC, EVC, and LCEVC were already technically complete, so the upheaval had little impact beyond egos. Chiariglione’s outburst ultimately highlighted the friction between innovation and bureaucracy—foreshadowing the deeper fractures forming between traditional standards bodies and the rise of patent-free alliances like AOMedia. Spanish soccer blames everyone but itself for…