What is Transcoding? Importance for Video Streaming Explained

Have you heard about transcoding? Do you know how transcoding can help in improving your digital presence? If you are into the digital space, you may know what is transcoding and its importance for video streaming.

Whereas digital storage is a vital need for digital media today. It needs conversion from analog to digital format. The initial digital format is a raw file. You can store and access it across different devices. It needs to be squeezed into a particular digital format. Video compression for files makes them compatible with a target device and is called encoding.

The terms “video encoding” and “video transcoding” are almost the same. Sometimes, it is used despite the difference between the two.

In this blog, we’ll explain what is transcoding & it’s important? And also talk about why a transcoder is critical for your streaming success.

So here it goes.

What is transcoding & why it is important?

First, let us tell you what transcoding is, and then later we will discuss its importance.

Transcoding is the method of converting an audio or video file. It happens from one format to another. It helps to improve the number of consistent target devices. However, transrating especially refers to changing bitrates. Such as a 2k video input stream at 16 Mbps. And converting bitrate streams like 720p.

Transsizing indicates resizing the video frame. For example, from a resolution of 2560×1440 down to 720×480). Video transcoding is when the video file is moved from a source to a different destination.

One of the most significant uses of video transcoding is uploading video from one source.

Some other terminologies for video transcoding and encoding are:

Transmuxing

It is the conversion to a different container format. This happens without changing the file.

Transrating

It is the conversion to a different video bitrate. This happens using the same file format.

Why is video transcoding important for streaming?

Transcoding is necessary for streaming to reach more viewers. For example, you want to do a live broadcast using a camera. You then need to compress your content with an HLS encoder. Yet, it needs to be delivered to online viewers. But if you try to stream it. You may face some problems.

First, viewers without adequate bandwidth will not be able to view the stream. Their players will be buffered. So, without transcoding and transmuxing the video, you have to use it. Using transcoding software, you can create a set of time-aligned video streams. This set of streams can be packaged into several adaptive streaming formats.

Another significant area of use is the Internet Protocol camera. Adaptive bitrate allows these broadcasts by large masses without interruption.

To solve bandwidth challenges

Video transcoding is an important part of online video consumption. The reason is that they have several renditions of the same video file that are large and can take up a lot of bandwidth. Viewers have diverse network conditions. So, not everyone will have enough bandwidth to stream. So 1080p video delays and buffering. So, they must have the opportunity to watch the video at a resolution that can endure.

To reduce file size for large videos

Original file sizes may be too large to play through a browser. So one needs to wait for the video to load. Yet, in transcoding, videos get compressed into a file size. That is more optimized for streaming videos. Hence, even large videos load faster.

To solve compatibility challenges

Today, viewers watch videos on different devices that support various formats. This is essential as many people watch videos on their mobile phones globally. Although mp4 is a common video container. Thus, video transcoding is necessary to give viewers resolution options. So they can watch videos with no problems on almost any device.

So, now you know what is transcoding & its importance. So use as per your need.

Why do you need video transcoding?

There are several reasons why one needs to do video transcoding. These are the 3 reasons.

If you want to convert a file from one format to another.
If you want to make it compatible with software or hardware.
If you want to decrease the file size of a video to save storage space.

For all such reasons, one may need a transcoder. So use transcoder as per your need. And after completely knowing what is transcoding & its importance. Now, let us know about its advantages in more detail.

Top advantages of transcoder

Here are the top four advantages of using a transcoder.

Let us begin.

It is easy to use

The AWS Management Console is a transcoder. It delivers an amazing user experience. With a few clicks and selections, you can have many transcodings. For transcoding, use APIs and SDKs that allow you to run your transcoding. With AWS Cloud, you get a wide variety of transcoding presets. It is available, which you can pick and select.

Scalable

Transcoding is scalable. Amazon’s elastic computes element, EC2 is a transcoder. It is a cloud transcoder, which has many transcoding pipelines configured.

Cost-Effective

There are no hidden costs. Use the management console and start transcoding. It is simple. SD videos at $0.015 per minute. And HD at $0.03 per minute. Also, you can experiment with new video formats using this free tier.

Completely managed

It is completely managed by Amazon Web Services.

After understanding its importance. Now, let’s put our foot on the features of transcoding.

Key features of transcoding

Check out these key features of transcoding.

Transcoding pipelines

Use transcoding pipelines to organize and process in parallel. Also, using IAM options, decide who has access to the transcoded data.

Transcoding presets

A wide variety of presets is available. You can choose to customize your presets. As per your needs.

Monitoring and management

Use the management console and APIs to check the status.

Notifications

Use Amazon’s SNS to find out the progress, completion, and warnings. So no need to check the job stacks.

Formats

All common formats, like WebM outputs, are available. Output HLS segmented file sets and input formats are available.

Availability in many regions

Amazon Service regions around the world feature transcoding services. The Amazon Cloud does not charge for transferring data onto pipelines.

APIs and SDKs

Available for Java, .NET, PHP, Python & Ruby.

Here, we have discussed 7 features of transcoding. So hopefully, you got a clear idea about what is transcoding and its importance.

What are the disadvantages of transcoding?

Let’s talk about its weaknesses.

Here it goes.

Do you know that transcoding needs significant hardware and system resources? Yes, it does. It runs very well on devices with less RAM. Thus, it provides a low-performance processor. It is a quality reduction. It is another very significant disadvantage for lossy formats.

Compression antiques accumulate. Thus, transcoding induces a progressive loss of quality. This is known as “digital generation loss.”

The key takeaway

We hope by now you know what is transcoding & its importance. And how transcoding can help you maintain the quality of the videos. It helps so that buffering doesn’t happen. However, here we totally understood video transcoding and how to deliver quality video content.

There are many video transcodings available on the market. You need to select the transcoder that is right for you. That helps in processing your video smoothly. Transcoders are available globally.

Yet, remember that a transcoder is a must if you are a digital marketer or an online creator. You need a transcoder to upload and download videos. Use a transcoder and provide valuable content to your audiences. So they become your loyal customers. And the online course creators inside Graphy can also help you. Graphy helps you to make better quality content for your audiences.

Thus, use the transcoder so that you can build good content in the digital world.

How can Graphy help you in building up a course using Transcoder?

By now you know what is transcoding & its important. Thus, Graphy makes sure they use the best transcoder. So, creators can make valuable courses. Inside Graphy, there are 40,000+ creators. So, take a 14-day trial and start exploring Graphy to learn about its features.

Graphy also helps you build a website and also a custom mobile app.

Graphy is an all-in-one platform. It offers a branded mobile app and a website. Here, you can sell, market, and create your course on the platform.

Well, you can use your domain name with a simple website builder. Also, you don’t need any coding skills to build a website. Use the drag and drop method to build your website. Make customizable landing pages and about us pages as per your need.

Yet, after knowing its many features, now it is your turn. Start creating and selling your own courses.

Now, no more wasting time. Take the help of Graphy to build your online course today.