What is video transcoding? What are the types of Transcoding and it’s importance?
Written By — Rishabh Gupta (https://guptarishabh309.medium.com/)
The streaming business has seen a drastic boom in the last few years, almost all big media players are jumping on the bandwagon and it is predicted that the near future is going to continue to witness this rise. If you or your company is among the huge crowd who are looking to take their place in this digital space, it becomes very important that you are aware of all the technicalities surrounding the space.
If you’re part of the streaming media business you are surely going to hear the term “video transcoding” almost every day. For any organization to become successful in this domain, choosing the right video transcoding service is very crucial. It affects the whole streaming experience and no matter how good your content is, a poor video transcoding service is a sure assured card to failure. An understanding of video transcoding becomes more important when you plan to deliver streaming video to a variety of devices. So without further delay let’s look into what exactly people mean when using the term “video transcoding”
What does video transcoding mean?
Video transcoding is the conversion from one digital format to another. Essentially video transcoders online convert a video file from one format to another as much as possible to a minimal quality loss and represent the transferred data by using less data. In easier words, video transcoding is a process of creating many versions of the same video. Every version is customized considering the variety of internet speeds for various users.
Average speed varies around the world and thus the quality of internet surfing also varies. In absence of a video transcoder online, someone with slow internet might have to face massive buffering time for a good quality video or someone with an extremely good internet connection might have to surf content in poor quality.
Generally, raw files are humongous for any type of media and they are very difficult to stream, in addition, not every device support all types of file and this is where transcoding comes in. It reduces the size and converts them into a playable format. Video transcoder online requires translating all three elements of digital video simultaneously- the file format, the video, and the audio. The end product of the whole process is reduced buffering time and latency for all the viewers.
Types of Transcoding
Transcoding is a very hectic process and there are three major types of video transcoding such as-
- Lossy-to-lossy: The most unfavoured form of transcoding, in this type the video file you have with you is already of low quality, and after transcoding, it further deteriorates. The major reason why anyone prefers this mode is that it helps in reducing the bitrate and saves storage space on portable players.
- Lossless-to-Lossless: A file is losslessly compressed using better compression and hardware support. You can convert a file into a new format without having much effect on its quality. The only issue with this format is that the resultant file is generally very large and thus it’s extremely difficult to send it to a portable device.
- Lossless-to-Lossy: This mode of transcoding lies is mid-way. It neither cause significantly lower quality nor does it leads to heavy files. You must maintain archives of losslessly compressed files to truly leverage this transcoding method.
Importance of Transcoding
Transcoding becomes extremely important when you aim to reach a large section of the audience. Without transcoding, you can reach a few people who meet the criteria to view your stream but many would fail to do so.
Everyone aims to use the best of the best quality pieces of equipment to stream so that audience can get the highest possible level of quality, but not everyone has a similar kind of internet connection and thus people with low quality would repetitively witness buffering circles.
Not all devices are equipped with the same software thus no format might be universally suitable for all devices. This is where transcoding jumps in, video transcoder online converts your streams into a suitable format as per your device. It makes your single stream available for desktop, laptop, mobile phones, tablets, etc.
Video Transcoding Locally vs Cloud Transcoding
While there are 3 types of video transcoding, you can do the whole process in two different ways-
Cloud Transcoding
Cloud transcoding helps in transcoding video on-premise in storage. In recent times, cloud transcoding has been preferred by a wider section. Cloud transcoding is faster than local transcoding and the overall user experience also excels. Anyone who can afford it should surely choose a cloud transcoding method as it is bound to present better results. One don’t have to install any particular transcoding software as the platform takes care of it. There is a subscription fee that one needs to pay to use cloud storage infrastructure.
Local Transcoding
With local transcoding, there is a need to install video compression software. It is slower than cloud transcoding and produces less satisfactory results. The only reason why organizations prefer local transcoding over storage transcoding is that there is no subscription cost for the same. You just need to purchase software and no further cost is involved. A single version is produced that one needs to upload and manage.
Mogi’s Superior Transcoding Technique
Mogi I/O (www.mogiio.com) is an AI enabled Video & Image Delivery SaaS that helps Content Platforms to Improve Customer Engagement by enabling Buffer free Streaming Experience for the user through a patented multi-CDN upstream architecture called Mogi Streaming Engine, Enhanced experience through quality enhancement and compression of up to 50% both during transcoding itself and Deeper user insights through Advanced Video Analytics.
Mogi’s solutions are available end-to-end (Video Transcoding + Video Player + Mogi Streaming Engine (Multi-CDN delivery) + DRM + Video Analytics) or you can use individual products from the entire suite like just the Video Transcoding. Mogi also provides white label end-to-end plug n play solutions for OTT and Edtech Platforms, with Web, Android and iOS apps as well as a dedicated CMS for OTT and LMS for EdTech.
One of the best individual products we have is our Transcoding Architecture, which in a unique cluster based process, does the transcoding within 30% of the content length. The transcoding architecture’s result includes a highly compressed video of up to 50% with no loss in quality, and if you choose quality enhancement, a 40% compression with enhanced video quality.
The pricing for Transcoding is very competitive as well, and along with it you get a highly compressed output with the same or higher quality. This means not only your contractual pricing is low due to competitive pricing, your bandwidth consumption reduces, and user experiences increases multifold. It’s a win win for all of us (Users, Clients, Mogi).
If you want to partner with us and access our products, reach out to susheel.srinivas@mogiio.com