Google intros multi-format, multi-codec Transcoder API

Google Cloud has begun previewing its new Transcoder API to better allow media companies to account for multiple consumer streaming formats and codecs.

Transcoder API supports MPEG-4 (MP4), Dynamic Adaptive Streaming over HTTP (DASH, or MPEG-DASH) and HTTP Live Streaming (HLS). It also supports multiple codecs including H.264, VP9 and HEVC. Google said the API also supports full partitioning for faster encoding of large video files.

The company said that developers can use the new API by submitting transcoding jobs through REST API, transcoding files in Google Cloud Storage and using Google Cloud CDN or third-party content delivery networks.

Google Cloud said Transcoder API is the first of a new set of video-focused APIs it’s building to “help media companies simplify operations and distribute their content to the widest possible audience.”

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Developers who use the Transcoder API will be charged per minute of transcoded video output and the price per minute will be based on the output video resolution.

“Media and entertainment companies across the world are in the midst of a transformational shift to direct-to-consumer streaming experiences. With audiences sheltering in place in 2020, this shift has been accelerated as audiences have adopted new streaming services more readily in 2020 than ever before,” said John Pallett, product manager at Google Cloud, in a blog post. “With more content being streamed in higher resolutions and operations becoming more distributed, media companies today require a cost efficient, high speed, and scalable way to process and deliver video content to an ever increasing number of end devices and platforms.”