AWS Elemental extends packaging service to on-demand video

AWS Elemental said that its MediaPackage service for packaging, encrypting and originating live video now works for on-demand video as well.

AWS customers can now package file-based video and live video to multiple distribution formats and protect content with multiple digital rights management (DRM) standards.

Single format adaptive bitrate (ABR) video assets can be ingested into MediaPackage VOD packaging groups, and then be made available for playback on devices with different combinations of distribution protocol, bitrate ladder and DRM encryption. Single ABR video assets can be viewed on connected TVs, smartphones, computers, tablets and game consoles. Customers can also update configurations without having to transcode video again.

RELATED: AWS Elemental’s new transcoding product promises 25x faster video processing

The update to MediaPackage comes roughly one month after AWS Elemental announced Accelerated Transcoding, a new MediaConvert feature promising 25-times faster video processing.

Both features are a part of the media services suite that AWS launched in late 2017.

“For the better part of six decades, professional-grade video workflows were limited to a few major industry players who could afford to build and maintain customized infrastructure that would be updated only once or twice each decade,” said Alex Dunlap, chief operating officer at AWS Elemental, in a statement. “These companies spent a great deal of time, money, and focus operating infrastructure with resources that could have been better spent creating great content and viewer experiences. We built AWS Elemental Media Services to let customers focus on delivering top-quality video reliably to any device, everywhere, without the undifferentiated heavy lifting of managing infrastructure. This not only helps traditional video providers innovate faster, but it also opens up new opportunities for startups, government agencies, schools, and multinational enterprises that, before today, had limited access to premium-quality video technology.”