Encoding Management

When you upload a video, our system automatically compresses it using the encoder settings you've chosen. We create different "renditions" of your video to cater to various devices (phones, laptops, TVs) and internet speeds (slow, fast).

Encoding Profile: You choose the specific settings used for compression through an "encoding profile" during setup.

To view your encoding profile, navigate to ADMIN > ENCODING MANAGEMENT (https://tools.viewlift.com/encodingManagement).

Video Codecs: 

• Non-DRM Videos: We use the industry-standard H.264 (MPEG-4 AVC) codec for efficient compression. 
• DRM Videos: For videos with additional security (DRM), we utilize the VP9 codec.

DRM videos - VP9-DASH

DRM-free videos - H.264-HLS

Using higher bitrates for your videos can increase CDN costs, you can always make changes later to optimize costs without compromising on quality. 

Related reference: Recommended Format for Video Ingest and Recommended Format for LIVE Video Ingest

Bitmovin encoding

Bitmovin measures billable minutes for each encoding job using its multipliers. The different bitrates of the renditions must be taken into account when calculating the encoding minutes. 

To calculate the number of encoding minutes using Bitmovin's multipliers, you can use the following formula:

number of encoding minutes = duration of each video * number of renditions * multiplier

For example, if a video has a duration of 10 minutes and there are 3 renditions created, the number of encoding minutes would be:

10 minutes * 3 renditions * 1.5 (SD codec) = 45 minutes

Note: Do not calculate the number of encoding minutes by multiplying the duration of each video by the number of renditions that were created. In this case, the calculation would be 30 minutes, which is incorrect.

Encoding job for a VOD object

 

For up-to-date information on how Bitmovin calculates encoding minutes, see this Bitmovin article.