Most open standards are royalty-free, and many proprietary standards are royalty-free as well. Examples of royalty-free standards include DisplayPort, VGA, VP8, and Matroska.
What can be royalty-free?
Royalty Free (hereafter, RF) means that after the initial permission is secured, usually through money, additional uses can be made without payment. RF is multiple use free of royalties.
What does royalty-free mean?
Royalty-free images are a unique category of images that come with a license. Businesses can purchase a license for a one-time fee and use their chosen image as many times as they desire. The perk of royalty-free images is there isn't a need to renew the license for the photo once you've purchased it.