Transcode profiles & ABR
A live stream is pure passthrough by default — the original signal is delivered as-is. Optionally, you can attach transcode profiles to build an adaptive bitrate (ABR) ladder so players can switch quality based on the viewer's bandwidth. This page explains the rendition limits and how to change the ladder while you are live.
Passthrough vs. transcoding
| Mode | What viewers get |
|---|---|
| Passthrough (0 renditions) | The original signal is always served, unchanged. |
| Transcode (1–3 renditions) | An ABR ladder built from the renditions you attach. |
With 0 renditions, the stream is pure passthrough and the original is always served.
Rendition limits
- You can attach up to 3 renditions per live stream (
MaxRenditionsPerLiveStream). - Each rendition is a predefined transcode profile with a name, bitrate, width/height, fps, codec, and price.
- You can also tick Include original quality (passthrough), which advertises the source in the master playlist. It does not count toward the 3-rendition cap.
So a single ABR ladder can advertise up to four levels: three transcoded renditions plus the original.
A common ladder is 1080p, 720p, and 480p, with the original included so capable players can pick the best available quality. Order and selection are handled by the player from the master playlist.
Listing available profiles
Each profile includes these fields:
| Field | Description |
|---|---|
id | Profile identifier; pass these in profileIds. |
name | Display name (for example, "1080p"). |
description | Human-readable description. |
bitrate | Target bitrate. |
width / height | Output resolution. |
fps | Output frame rate. |
codec | h264 (default) or hevc. |
monthlyPrice | Added to the stream's monthly price. |
isActive | Whether the profile can be attached. |
A profile's codec is h264 or hevc, and its output container is hls. The playback side exposes an HLS (.m3u8) URL on every stream. See Playback URLs & manifest caching.
Pricing
A live stream is a monthly subscription: the ingest slot costs €12/month, and each rendition you attach adds its own monthly price on top.
| Rendition | Monthly price |
|---|---|
| 1080p | €39 |
| 720p | €29 |
| 480p | €18 |
| 360p | €12 |
| 240p | €8 |
Prices exclude VAT. Passthrough is free — a 0-rendition stream costs just the €12 slot, and ticking Include original quality adds nothing. For example, a stream with a 1080p + 720p + 480p ladder costs 12 + 39 + 29 + 18 = €98/month.
Live streaming is available from the Starter plan — see Plans & pricing.
Setting renditions
- Open your stream and go to the General tab.
- In the Transcoding section, choose Transcode (the default is Passthrough (no transcode)).
- Select up to 3 renditions from the profile list — the counter shows how many you have picked.
- Optionally tick Include original quality (passthrough) to advertise the source in the master playlist.
Changing renditions while live
Changing renditions mid-broadcast does not take effect immediately. The running transcode keeps the old ladder, and the stream is flagged TranscodeDirty — your dashboard shows an amber "restart to apply" banner. The new ladder applies on the next publish, or when you trigger one of the restart actions below.
| Action | Effect | Viewer impact |
|---|---|---|
| Restart transcoding | Re-applies the ladder without dropping the publisher; renditions resume in ~2–3s. | No publisher drop; brief rendition re-sync. |
| Force restart | Kicks the publisher so the encoder reconnects and re-applies the full config (renditions + auth + IP whitelist). | Briefly interrupts the broadcast. |
Use Restart transcoding to apply a changed ladder without dropping viewers. Reserve Force restart for when you also need new auth or IP-whitelist settings to take effect, since it relies on the encoder reconnecting.
Next steps
- Publishing (RTMP / RTMPS / SRT) — encoder setup and authentication.
- Playback URLs & manifest caching — how the ABR output is delivered and cached.