Brightcove Zencoder
Zencoder®
VIDEO ENCODING SPEED YOU HAVE TO SEE TO BELIEVE
High Quality Video Versus Reducing Bandwidth
Brightcove experts Carl Rutman and Yuriy Reznik discuss the important role our award-winning context-aware encoding and multi-codec switching have in solving this historically difficult problem.
Fast. Reliable. And ready for anything.
Zencoder is the cloud-based video encoding platform for anyone who wants to create and deliver content for audiences around the world. With extremely fast transcoding, industry-leading reliability, unmatched input file compatibility, and output support for all connected devices, Zencoder puts the power of on-demand video in your hands, whether you’re sharing to viewers on their phones, on the web – or in their living rooms.
- Fast encoding in the cloud — including 4K, UHD, and HEVC files
- Unmatched file compatibility — support for the broadest range of input and output formats
- Quicker ROI — no upfront investment; pay only for what you use
More quality for less money.
Our Context Aware Encoding capability, an Emmy® Award winning technology, delivers improved compression and adaptive bitrate streaming. You don’t have to think about it. Your viewers get a flawless performance, and you win with dramatically reduced bandwidth, storage, and encoding costs. Available with annual contract.
Integrate in hours, not weeks.
It’s true — you can start encoding immediately, and seamlessly integrate your application with our fast and scalable encoding platform in a matter of hours. A well-documented API, easy-to-use API request builder, integration libraries, and world-class support streamline your process and provide an elegant and extendable solution.
File transcoding for web, mobile and adaptive streaming
(H.264, HEVC/H.265, WMV, MPEG-4, MP4, HLS, MPEG-DASH, MSS, VP9 and many more).
Plans & Pricing
| Test | Pay-as-you-go | Launch | Traction | Growth | Enterprise |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
FREE TEST JOBS | $0 PER MONTH | $40 PER MONTH | $300 PER MONTH | $2000 PER MONTH | Contact us for volume pricing |
| Just taking it for a spin? Run as many test encoding jobs as you need. | Pay-as-you-go is a great option for sites that are just starting out and don't have much video usage yet. You can upgrade any time. | 1,000 MINUTES OF OUTPUT INCLUDED | 10,000 MINUTES OF OUTPUT INCLUDED | 100,000 MINUTES OF OUTPUT INCLUDED | |
Outputs are shortened to 5 seconds long. | and just | and just | and just | ||
| Limited to one concurrent encoding job. | 5¢ | 4¢ | 3¢ | 2¢ | |
| Outputs are watermarked. | PER MINUTE OF OUTPUT VIDEO | EACH ADDITIONAL OUTPUT MINUTE | EACH ADDITIONAL OUTPUT MINUTE | EACH ADDITIONAL OUTPUT MINUTE |
On-Demand Pricing Examples
“I need to encode a 1 hour HD video into an ABR ladder with a 1080p, 720p and 360p output variant.”
Input: 60 minutes
Output 1: 1920×1080 HEVC HD = 60 minutes x 2 (HD) = 120 minutes
Output 2: 1280×720 H.264 HD = 60 minutes x 2 (HD) = 120 minutes
Output 3: 640×360 H.264 SD = 60 minutes x 1 (SD) = 60 minutes
TOTAL = 120 + 120 + 60 = 300 OUTPUT MINUTES CONSUMED
“I have 10 minutes of complex high-action sports content that must have standards conversion applied, which I will leverage Brightcove’s premium filters option using InSync Frameformer to process into UHD, HD and SD variants.”
Input: 10 minutes
Output 1: 3840×2160 HEVC UHD w/FrameFormer = (10 minutes (x4 UHD)) + (10(x6 FF)) = 100 minutes
Output 2: 1920×1080 HEVC HD w/FrameFormer = (10 minutes (x2 HD)) + (10(x6 FF)) = 80 minutes
Output 3: 640×360 H.264 SD w/FrameFormer = (10 minutes x 1 (SD)) +( 10(x6 FF)) = 70 minutes
TOTAL = 100 + 80 + 70 = 250 OUTPUT MINUTES CONSUMED
“I have a library of packaged HLS assets that I need to transmux to add MPEG DASH support. Each asset is, on average, 40 minutes in duration.”
Input: 40 minutes
Output 1: TRANSMUX HLS to MPEG DASH = 40 minutes x 0.25 = 10 minutes
“I want to reprocess some of my catalog to AV1 to save bandwidth. Each catalog asset is, on average, 30 minutes in duration. I only need a single UHD AV1 variant created for each asset.”
Input: 30 minutes
Output 1: 3840×2160 AV1 UHD = (30 minutes (x4 UHD)) + (30 minutes (x48 AV1)) = 1560 minutes
TOTAL = 1560 OUTPUT MINUTES CONSUMED
| ADDITIONAL OUTPUT MINUTES CALCULATED WHEN USING THE FOLLOWING FEATURES | ||
|---|---|---|
| FEATURE | OUTPUT MINUTE MULTIPLIER (using HEVC or H.264 Codec) | OUTPUT MINUTE MULTIPLIER (using AV1 Codec) |
| BASELINE ENCODING MULTIPLIERS | ||
| RESOLUTION: SD | 1X | 12X |
| PREMIUM RESOLUTION: HD | 2X | 24X |
| PREMIUM RESOLUTION: UHD | 4X | 48X |
| ADDITIONAL ENCODING OPTIONS | ||
| AUDIO-ONLY PROCESSING | 0.25x | |
| TRANSMUXING | .25X | |
| TWO-PASS ENCODING | INCLUDED | |
| CONTEXT-AWARE ENCODING (AS PART OF A TRANSCODE JOB) | INCLUDED | |
| CONTEXT-AWARE ENCODING (ANALYSIS ONLY MODE) | 1X (CAE Encoder Instruction JSON is the Output) | |
| ADDITIONAL PREMIUM FEATURES AVAILABLE These multipliers are in addition to the base rate multipliers above. See examples section for details. | ||
| PREMIUM CONVERSION: INSYNC FRAMEFORMER | 6X | |
Sounds great, now what?
Flawless viewer experience
Test jobs are free with outputs limited to 5 seconds. This allows you to test and integrate without being charged, dialing in cost-optimized quality-enhanced processing and delivering improved viewer experiences
Transmuxing (save 75%)
High-performance transmuxing workflows for existing ABR packages, for example when converting HLS to MPEG DASH.
Audio-only
Audio to audio or video to audio transcoding options for premium quality audio-only processing
Standard-definition (SD)
Output frame size under 1280 x 720 counts as Standard-Definition (SD) content
High-definition (HD)
Output frame sizes of 1280 x 720 up to 2048 x 1080 count as High-Definition (HD) content
Ultra High-definition (UHD)
Output frame sizes above 2048 x 1080 and up to 4096 x 2160 count as Ultra High-Definition (UHD) video
Context Aware Encoding (CAE)
CAE analyzes source video complexity to create an ideal encoding profile, automatically applied to Zencoder transcode jobs or exportable to third-party transcoders (using the analysis only mode), saving storage and bandwidth while enhancing viewer experiences.
Insync Frameformer
Premium conversion filter provided by InSync Technology that can optionally be used to perform a set of operations, such as, frame rate conversion, scaling, deinterlacing and/or color space conversion.
High Frame-rate / Dynamic Range Support
Zencoder supports premium content processing for frame rates up to 240fps and full support for standard (SDR) and high (HDR) workflows.
Zencoder Supported Formats
Input Formats
| Container Format | Audio Codecs | Video Codecs | Audio Formats | Video Formats | Closed Captions |
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Output Formats
| Container Format | Audio Codecs | Video Codecs | Audio Formats | Streaming Formats | Closed Captions | Encryption & DRM |
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Features and benefits
Free test jobs
Test jobs are free with outputs limited to 5 seconds. That way, you can test and integrate without being charged.
Auto captioning
Captions are generated by automatically transcribing speech in the audio track to a VTT, SCC, or DFXP file.
No file size limits
Simply pay by minutes of output.
Little to no queue times
And no limit on the number of concurrent jobs.
Email and chat support
Experts are available to answer all your questions.
Upgrade or downgrade anytime
You can always pick the plan that works for you.
Frequently Asked Questions
We know you have questions, our experts are available 24/7 to answer them.
Minutes refers to the length in minutes of an output video. So if you encode the full length of a 10 minute video, your total minutes is 10. If you are using multiple outputs and encode your video into 2 different formats, your total minutes for that encoding job is 20.
SD and HD outputs are limited to 240 fps (frames per second). UHD outputs are limited to 60 fps. Input frame rates are not limited, so you can have a 4K 1000 fps file as an input, but it will be limited to 240 fps as an SD or HD output, and 60 fps as a UHD output.
Minutes beyond those included in the plan will be charged at the rates listed above. For your protection, each package also has a monthly maximum. If you exceed this value in a given month, the account will be suspended until you upgrade to a higher plan or contact support.
READY TO GET STARTED?
Contact us to learn how we can enhance your video marketing efforts and help generate the results and ROI you need.