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Selective Transcoding

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With Wiredrive's Selective Transcoding enhancement, you no longer need to worry about improperly encoded files hurting your playback experience on Wiredrive. This feature ensures smooth playback for 99.99% of files that are uploaded into the system, so you can focus less on encoding and more on your work. This also benefits recipients of presentations, who may be on slower networks or lack specific browser plugins, which could have affected playback in the past.

 How does it work?

  • Every file uploaded into the Wiredrive system goes through a series of checks to make sure that file has the ideal settings for web playback. If the file meets our playback criteria, no changes are made, and your file plays as it was uploaded.
  • However, if the file is not encoded properly for web playback, our system will generate a version of the file for playback purposes only. This ensures a smooth playback experience while still allowing you to deliver a broadcast quality file within the system. 

How is my storage affected?

  • Your storage is calculated on the size of the file you upload into the system. If you upload a 5gb file, your storage will calculate that 5gb usage. You will still want to compress files for storage/billing purposes, but the system will now playback most file types.

Does this mean every media file will play in Wiredrive?

  • No. Corrupt files and some unusual formats may still have difficulties.

How is Wiredrive doing it?

  • We developed a special process we call 'Selective Transcoding.' It means we are fixing files we know won't playback online, and leaving alone files we know will playback without our help.  Our solution is focused on retaining the original integrity of your media at all costs - while enabling playback for as many files as possible.

What is transcoding?

  • Transcoding is the process of taking a multimedia stream (audio or video) and converting it from one encoding to another (e.g. ProRes to H.264). Transcoding a multimedia file from one encoding another to another is akin to translating a book from one language to another (e.g. Russian to English).

Is Wiredrive transcoding every file?

  • No. Wiredrive doesn’t touch files that will play without our help. Our goal is to keep the integrity of the file if possible.

When does a file get transcoded?

  • When it is uploaded into the system, we scan it to see if it needs our help.  If it doesn't play as is, we transcode it on upload. If you do not want your file to be transcoded, you'll want to ensure the following:

Container

  • The file container format is MP4
  • Fast Start is enabled, Compressed headers are disabled.
  • All audio and video streams must start within 50 milliseconds of one another.

Video Playback

  • Codec is H.264
  • Encoding Profile is any of the 8-bit profiles (Constrained Baseline, Baseline, Main, High)
  • Encoding level ≤ 4.0 (higher profiles not supported)
  • Resolution is 1080p or less
  • Frame Rate is 30fps or less.

Audio Playback

  • Codec is AAC
  • Bitrate is ≤ 320 kb/s or less

We don't look at video bit-rates directly; rather we look at the H.264 encoding level that was used to encode the stream.

If the level (as shown here:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/H.264/MPEG-4_AVC#Levels) is too high, we transcode it to Level 4.0. 95% of the file uploaded is going to be ≤ level 4.0, so most likely the bit rate won't be affected.

Will this degrade the quality for playback?  

  • Files that are transcoded will technically have a reduction in quality, but in the vast majority of cases, the difference is imperceptible. The only time Wiredrive will reduce quality is if files that have a resolution larger than 1080p, which will be downscaled to 1080p.

Does Wiredrive keep the original uploaded file? 

  • Yes. We create the transcoded, web-optimized version for online playback only. Any initiated download will serve up the original uploaded file.

Do the web-optimized versions count towards my storage limit?  

  • No. We never charge you to store the web-optimized file, only the source file.  This is exactly how we handle thumbnails too.  We never charge for the storage of anything we create to improve your Wiredrive experience.  

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