Abstract visualization representing open-source licensing

Licensing

Resumable.js is released under the MIT License — one of the most permissive and widely adopted open-source licenses available.

The MIT License

Resumable.js is distributed under the MIT License, a permissive open-source license that has become one of the most widely used licenses in the software industry. The MIT License is short, straightforward, and places minimal restrictions on how you can use, modify, and distribute the software. It is recognized by the Open Source Initiative (OSI) and is compatible with virtually every other open-source license, making it easy to incorporate Resumable.js into projects regardless of their own licensing terms.

The full text of the MIT License as it applies to Resumable.js is maintained in the project's repository. The license has remained unchanged since the project's creation, and there are no plans or indications that it would change. This stability is one of the practical advantages of the MIT License — once granted, the permissions cannot be revoked for versions already released under those terms.

What the MIT License Permits

The MIT License grants broad permissions to anyone who obtains a copy of the software. Specifically, it permits the following uses without requiring payment, special agreements, or additional authorization:

  • Commercial use — You can use Resumable.js in commercial products, SaaS applications, enterprise software, and any other revenue-generating context. There is no requirement to pay royalties, share revenue, or obtain a commercial license.
  • Modification — You are free to modify the source code to suit your needs. You can add features, fix issues, optimize performance, or adapt the library for specialized use cases. There is no requirement to contribute your modifications back to the original project (though doing so is encouraged as good open-source citizenship).
  • Distribution — You can distribute Resumable.js as part of your own software, whether that software is open-source or proprietary. You can bundle it in npm packages, include it in compiled applications, ship it as part of a Docker image, or distribute it through any other mechanism.
  • Private use — You can use Resumable.js in private, internal applications without any obligation to disclose that you are using it or to make your application's source code available.
  • Sublicensing — You can grant others the same permissions you received, which means you can include Resumable.js in your own open-source or proprietary projects without creating licensing conflicts for your downstream users.

Attribution Requirements

The MIT License has exactly one substantive requirement: you must include the original copyright notice and the license text in all copies or substantial portions of the software. In practical terms, this means:

  • Source distribution — If you distribute the Resumable.js source code (whether modified or unmodified), include the LICENSE file from the repository. This is typically handled automatically if you install via npm, since the LICENSE file is included in the published package.
  • Bundled distribution — If Resumable.js is bundled into a larger JavaScript file (via Webpack, Rollup, esbuild, or similar), the license notice should be preserved in the bundle or included in a separate notices file distributed with your application. Many bundlers have plugins or configuration options to extract and aggregate license notices from dependencies automatically.
  • Binary or compiled distribution — If Resumable.js source is not directly visible to end users (for example, if it is compiled into a mobile app or server-side bundle), including the license text in a NOTICES, THIRD-PARTY-LICENSES, or similar file satisfies the attribution requirement.

You do not need to display the license in your application's user interface. You do not need to include a visible credit or logo. The requirement is specifically about including the license text with the distributed software, not about end-user-facing attribution.

What the MIT License Does Not Cover

The MIT License is deliberately minimal, and there are areas it does not address. Understanding these boundaries helps set accurate expectations:

  • No warranty — The software is provided "as is," without warranty of any kind. This means the authors and contributors are not liable if the software does not work as expected, causes data loss, or has security vulnerabilities. This is standard for open-source software and reflects the reality that volunteer maintainers cannot provide the same guarantees as commercial software vendors.
  • No trademark rights — The MIT License does not grant permission to use the "Resumable.js" name or any associated trademarks for promotional purposes. You can state that your product uses Resumable.js (this is factual and generally protected), but you should not imply endorsement by or affiliation with the Resumable.js project.
  • No patent grant — Unlike some licenses (such as Apache 2.0), the MIT License does not include an explicit patent grant. In practice, this is rarely a concern for a JavaScript file upload library, but it is worth noting for organizations with strict IP compliance requirements.

Compatibility with Other Licenses

One of the MIT License's greatest strengths is its compatibility with other open-source licenses. Because its requirements are so minimal (just attribution), MIT-licensed code can be combined with code under virtually any other license without creating conflicts. This includes:

  • GPL (v2 and v3) — MIT code can be incorporated into GPL projects. The combined work would be distributed under the GPL, but the MIT-licensed portions retain their original license.
  • Apache 2.0 — Fully compatible. Many projects combine MIT and Apache 2.0 dependencies without issue.
  • BSD (2-clause and 3-clause) — Fully compatible, as these licenses have similar permissive terms.
  • Proprietary licenses — MIT code can be included in proprietary software with no licensing conflict, provided the attribution requirement is met.

This broad compatibility means you can integrate Resumable.js into your project with confidence, regardless of what other dependencies you are using or what license your own project is distributed under.

Practical Guidance for Teams

For most development teams, complying with the MIT License is straightforward and requires minimal effort. Here is a practical checklist:

  1. Keep the LICENSE file present in your project's dependency tree. If you install via npm, this happens automatically.
  2. If you use a JavaScript bundler, configure it to extract license notices into a separate file (most bundlers support this out of the box or via plugin).
  3. If your organization maintains a third-party software inventory, add Resumable.js with its MIT License designation.
  4. If you modify the source code, you may add your own copyright notice alongside the original, but do not remove the original notice.

The MIT License is designed to get out of your way. It provides legal clarity with minimal compliance overhead, which is why it has been adopted by tens of thousands of open-source projects and is trusted by organizations of every size, from individual developers to the largest technology companies in the world.

This Documentation Site

The content on this documentation site — including the text, code examples, and diagrams — is provided for informational purposes to assist developers working with Resumable.js. The documentation content itself is separate from the Resumable.js library source code. If you have questions about licensing that are specific to your organization's compliance requirements, consult with your legal team for guidance tailored to your situation.