Why is it illegal to redistribute binaries of FFmpeg (for instance) that have patented and non-free components in them (such as codecs for H.264, H.265, AAC...), but it's perfectly legal to just point people towards a binary of FFmpeg that just so happens to have those components in them? Audacity does this to enable support for AAC and other formats it can't legally include directly.
I believe it's a loophole, where you host these binaries in places that don't recognize software patents, so the companies that hold the patents literally can't do anything about it, but I'm surprised that's even allowed. Couldn't ISPs (under legal pressure from the rights holders of said formats) block them outright, since there's an intellectual property violation? If they can do it for Pirate Bay, what's stopping them from denying access to free binaries of FFmpeg with non-free components? I mean, it'd be a total shitshow for the open-source audio and video editing landscape (imagine not being able to decode the format that 99% of cameras film in, then telling users to compile FFmpeg from scratch on a Windows/Mac), but greed hasn't ever stopped companies, even if it is beyond stupid.
Edit: It seems that FFmpeg can use its own library, libavcodec, to encode and decode proprietary formats. Then again, the part about the software patents it may be infringing on makes it dubious in jurisdictions where they do actually recognize them.
Edit 2: Better precision; "ISPs" qualified with "(under legal pressure from the rights holders of said formats)"