Skype Limited announced that SILK can use a sampling frequency of 8, 12, 16 or 24 kHz and a bit rate from 6 to 40 kbit/s.

[4] As of 2012[update] (version 1.0.9) the SDK can by downloaded without application, but the licence restricts the use to internal evaluation and testing purposes only, excluding software distribution or use in any commercial product or service.

[11] On March 3, 2009 Skype Limited announced that the SILK codec will be available soon under a royalty free license to third-party software and hardware developers.

[6] The first draft of the SILK Speech Codec description was submitted to the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) as a candidate for the standardisation of a new Internet wideband audio codec on July 6, 2009, thereby openly publishing the format along with the source code of the reference implementation.

[13] SILK is a foundation (with CELT) of the hybrid codec Opus (at the time called "Harmony") that was submitted to the IETF in September 2010,[14] and was chosen as the final candidate for the new standard.