Dynamic Media already comes with a predefined Adaptive Video Encoding profile. The settings in this out-of-the-box profile are optimized to give your customers the best viewing experience possible. When you encode your primary source videos using the Adaptive Video Encoding profile, during playback, the video player automatically adjusts the quality of the video stream based on the Internet connection speed of your customers. This action is known as adaptive bitrate streaming.
The following are other factors that determine the quality of your videos:
Resolution of the uploaded primary source video
If the MP4 video was recorded at a lower resolution, such as 240p or 360p, it cannot be streamed in high definition.
Video player size
By default, the “Width” in the Adaptive Video Encoding profile is set to “Auto.” Again, during playback, the best quality is used based on the size of the player.
See Best Practices for Video Encoding.
See also Best Practices for Organizing your Digital Assets for using Processing Profiles.
To generate a video’s metadata and associated video image thumbnails, the video itself must go through the encoding process in Dynamic Media. In Adobe Experience Manager, the Dynamic Media Encode Video workflow encodes video if you have enabled Dynamic Media and set up video Cloud Services. This workflow captures workflow process history and failure information. See Monitor video encoding and YouTube publishing progress. If you have enabled Dynamic Media and set up video Cloud Services, the Dynamic Media Encode Video workflow automatically takes effect when you upload a video. (If you are not using Dynamic Media, the DAM Update Asset workflow takes effect.)
Metadata is useful when you are searching for assets. The thumbnails are static video images that are generated during encoding. They are required by the Experience Manager system and used in the user interface to help you visually identify videos in the Cards view, Search Results view, and the Asset List view. You can see the generated thumbnails when you select the Renditions icon (a Painter’s palette) of an encoded video.
When you are done creating the Video Profile, you apply it to a folder or multiple folders. See Apply a Video Profile to folders.
To define advanced processing parameters for other asset types, see Configure asset processing.
See also Profiles for Processing Metadata, Images, and Videos.
The following table identifies best practices when encoding profiles for adaptive video streaming to mobile and tablet devices, and desktop computers. You can use these presets for any aspect ratio video.
Video Format Codec | Video Size- Width (px) | Video Size- Height (px) | Keep Aspect Ratio? | Video Bitrate (Kbps) | Video Frame Rate (Fps) | Audio Codec | Audio Bitrate (Kbps) |
MP4 H.264 (mp4) |
auto | 360 | Yes | 730 | 30 | Dolby HE-AAC | 128 |
MP4 H.264 (mp4) |
auto | 540 | Yes | 2000 |
30 | Dolby HE-AAC | 128 |
MP4 H.264 (mp4) |
auto | 720 |
Yes | 3000 |
30 | Dolby HE-AAC | 128 |
Smart crop for video is an optional feature available in Video Profiles. It is a tool that uses Adobe Sensei to automatically detect and crop the focal point in any adaptive video or progressive video that you have uploaded, regardless of size.
Supported video formats for smart cropping include MP4, MKV, MOV, AVI, FLV, and WMV.
The maximum supported video file size for smart crop is the following criteria:
Adobe Sensei is limited to 9000 frames. That is, five minutes at 30 FPS. If your video has a higher FPS, the maximum-supported video duration decreases. For example, a 60 FPS video must be two and a half minutes long to be supported by Adobe Sensei and smart crop.
For video smart crop to work, you must include one or more video encoding presets with your Video Profile.
To use smart crop for video, you create an adaptive or progressive video encoding profile. As part of your profile, use the Smart Crop Ratio tool to select pre-defined aspect ratios. As an example, after you define your video encoding presets, you can add a “Mobile Landscape” definition with an aspect ratio of 16x9, and a “Mobile Portrait” definition with an aspect ratio of 9x16. Other aspect or crop ratios from which you can choose to include 1x1, 4x3, and 4x5.
You can toggle video smart crop in the Video Profile to either on or off using the slider to the far right of Smart Crop Ratio in the user interface.
After you create and save your Video Profile, you can apply it to the folders you want.
See Apply Video Profiles to specific folders or Apply a Video Profile globally.
See also Smart crop for images.
Dynamic Media already comes with a predefined Adaptive Video Encoding profile-a group of video upload settings for MP4 H.264-that is optimized for the best viewing experience. You can use this profile when you upload your videos.
However, if this predefined profile does not meet your needs, you can choose to create your own adaptive video encoding profile. As a best practice, when you use the setting Encode for adaptive streaming, all encoding presets that you add to the profile are validated. This functionality ensures that all videos have the same aspect ratio. In addition, the encoded videos are treated as a multibitrate set for streaming.
When you create the video encoding profile, you notice that most encoding options are pre-populated with recommended default settings to help you. However, if you select a value other than the recommended default, it can result in poor video quality during playback and other performance issues.
So, for all MP4 H.264 video encoding presets in the profile, the following values are validated to ensure that they are the same across individual encoding presets in the profile, making adaptive bitrate streaming possible:
If the values are not the same, you can continue creating the profile as is. However, adaptive bitrate streaming is not possible. Instead, users experience single-bitrate streaming. It is recommended that you edit the encoding settings to use the same values across individual encoding presets in the profile. (The Video Profile/preset editor enforces parity of the adaptive video encoding settings if “Encode for adaptive streaming” is enabled.)
See also Create a video encoding profile for progressive streaming.
See also Best practices for video encoding.
To define advanced processing parameters for other asset types, see Configure asset processing.
To create a Video Profile for adaptive bitrate streaming,
Select the Experience Manager logo and navigate to Tools > Assets > Video Profiles.
Select Create.
Enter a name and description for the profile.
On the Create/Edit Video Encoding Presets page, select Add Video Encoding Preset.
On the Basic tab, set the video and audio options.
Select the information icon next to each option for more descriptions or recommended settings based on the selected video format codec.
Under the Video Size heading, ensure that Keep aspect ratio is checked.
Set the video frame size resolution in pixels. Use the Auto value to automatically scale to match the source aspect ratio (width to height ratio). For example, Auto x 480 or 640 x Auto.
Do one of the following:
In the Width field, enter auto. In the Height field, enter a value in pixels.
To help you visualize the size of the video, select the Information icon (i) to the right of Height to open the Size Calculator page. Use Size Calculator to set the video dimensions (represented by the blue box) you want. Select X in the upper-right corner when you are done.
(Optional) Select the Advanced tab and ensure that the Use Default Values check box is selected (recommended). Alternatively, modify advanced video and audio settings.
In the upper-right corner of the page, select Save to save the preset.
Do one of the following:
(Optional) To add video smart crop to the videos that this profile is applied to, do the following:
Do one of the following:
In the upper-right corner of the page, select Save again to save the profile.
You can now apply the profile to folders that contain videos. See Applying a Video Profile to folders or Applying a Video Profile globally.
If you choose not to use the option Encode for adaptive streaming, all encoding presets that you add to the profile are treated as individual video renditions for single-bitrate streaming or progressive video delivery. Also, there is no validation to ensure that all the video renditions have the same aspect ratio.
The supported video format codecs are H.264 (.mp4) and WebM.
See also Create a video encoding profile for adaptive bitrate streaming.
See also Best Practices for Video Encoding.
To define advanced processing parameters for other asset types, see Configuring Asset Processing.
To create a Video Profile for progressive streaming:
Select the Experience Manager logo and navigate to Tools > Assets > Video Profiles.
Select Create.
Enter a name and description for the profile.
On the Create/Edit Video Encoding Presets page, select Add Video Encoding Preset.
On the Basic tab, set the video and audio options.
Select the information icon next to each option for more descriptions or recommended settings based on the selected video format codec.
(Optional) Under the Video Size heading, uncheck Keep aspect ratio.
Do the following:
(Optional) Do one of the following:
Select the Advanced tab, and make sure that the Use Default Values check box is selected (recommended).
Clear the Use Default Values check box and specify the video settings and audio settings you want.
Select the information icon next to each option for more descriptions or recommended settings based on the selected video format codec.
In the upper-right corner of the page, select Save to save the preset.
Do one of the following:
(Optional) To add video smart crop to the videos that this profile is applied to, do the following:
Do one of the following:
In the upper-right corner of the page, select Save to save the profile.
You can now apply the profile to folders that contain videos. See Apply a Video Profile to folders or Apply a Video Profile globally.
You can edit an existing encoding profile for video to take advantage of advanced video encoding parameters that are not found in the user interface when you create or edit a Video Profile in Experience Manager. You can custom-add one or more advanced parameters, such as minBitrate and maxBitrate, to your existing profile.
To use custom-added video encoding parameters:
Select the Experience Manager logo, then navigate to Tools > General > CRXDE Lite.
From the CRXDE Lite page, in the Explorer panel on the left, navigate to the following:
/conf/global/settings/dam/dm/presets/video/*name_of_video_encoding_profile_to_edit
In the panel on the lower-right side of the page, from the Properties tab, specify the Name, Type, and Value of the parameter you want to use.
The following advanced parameters are available to use:
Name | Description |
Type |
Value |
h264Level |
H.264 level to use for encoding. Normally this level is automatically determined based on the encoding settings that you are using. | String |
10 * h264 level For example, 3.0 = 30, 1.3 = 13) No default value. |
keyframe |
The target number of frames between keyframes. Calculate this value so you can generate a keyframe every 2-10 seconds. For example, at 30 frames per second, the keyframe interval is 60-300. Lower keyframe intervals improve stream seeking and stream switching behavior for adaptive video encodings and can also improve the quality for videos that have lot of motion. However, because keyframes increase a file's size, a lower keyframe interval usually results in lower overall video quality at a given bitrate. |
String |
Positive number. Default is 300. Recommended value for HLS or DASH (adaptive bitrate streaming) is 60-90. (To use DASH for your videos, it must first be enabled by Adobe Technical Support on your account. See Enable DASH on your account.) |
minBitrate |
Minimum bitrate to allow for variable bitrate encodings, in Kbps (kilobits per second). This parameter only applies when Use Constant Bitrate is deselected in the Advanced tab when you create or edit a video encoding profile. See also Bitrate. |
String |
Positive number, in Kbps. No default value. |
maxBitrate |
Maximum bitrate to allow for variable bitrate encodings, in Kbps. This parameter only applies when Use Constant Bitrate is deselected in the Advanced tab when you create or edit a video encoding profile. See also Bitrate. |
String |
Positive number, in Kbps. No default value. However, the recommended value is up to two times of the encoding bitrate. |
audioBitrateCustom |
Set value to true to force a constant bitrate for the audio stream, if supported by audio codec. |
String |
Default is Recommended value for HLS or DASH is
|
Near the lower-right corner of the page, select Add.
Do one of the following:
In the upper-left corner of the CRXDE Lite page, select the Back Home icon to return to Experience Manager.
You can edit any Video Profile that you have created to add, edit, or delete video presets within that profile.
By default, you cannot edit the predefined, out-of-the-box Adaptive Video Encoding profile that came with Dynamic Media. Instead, you can easily copy the profile and save it with a new name. You can then edit the desired presets in the copied profile.
See also Best Practices for Video Encoding.
To define advanced processing parameters for other asset types, see Configure asset processing.
To edit a Video Profile:
Select the Experience Manager logo and navigate to Tools > Assets > Video Profiles.
On the Video Profiles page, check one Video Profile name.
On the toolbar, select Edit.
On the Video Encoding Profile page, edit the name and description, as desired.
As a best practice, ensure that the Encode for adaptive streaming check box is selected.
Select the information icon for a description of adaptive bitrate streaming. (If you are editing a progressive Video Profile, do not select this check box.)
Under the Video Encoding Presets heading, add, edit, or delete video encoding presets that make up the profile.
Select the information icon next to each option on the Basic and Advanced tabs for more descriptions or recommended settings based on the selected video format codec.
In the upper-right corner ofthepage, select Save.
Select the Experience Manager logo and navigate to Tools > Assets > Video Profiles.
On the Video Profiles page, check one Video Profile name.
On the toolbar, select Copy.
On the Video Encoding Profile page, enter a new name for the profile.
As a best practice, ensure that the Encode for adaptive streaming check box is selected. Select the information icon for a description of adaptive bitrate streaming. (If you are copying a progressive Video Profile, do not select the check box.)
In Dynamic Media - Hybrid mode, if a WebM video preset is part of the Video Profile, then Encode for adaptive streaming is not possible because all presets must be MP4.
Under the Video Encoding Presets heading, add, edit, or delete video encoding presets that make up the profile.
Select the information icon next to each option on the Basic and Advanced tabs for recommended settings and descriptions.
In the upper-right corner ofthepage, select Save.
When you assign a Video Profile to a folder, any subfolders automatically inherit the profile from its parent folder. As such, you can assign only one Video Profile to a folder. As such, consider carefully the folder structure of where you upload, store, use, and archive assets.
If you assigned a different Video Profile to a folder, the new profile overrides the previous profile. The previously existing folder assets remain unchanged. The new profile is applied on the assets that are added to the folder later.
Folders that have a profile assigned to it are indicated in the user interface using the name of the profile that appears in the card name.
You can apply Video Profiles to specific folders or globally to all assets.
You can reprocess assets in a folder that already has an existing Video Profile that you later changed. See Reprocessing assets in a folder.
You can apply a Video Profile to a folder from within the Tools menu or if you are in the folder, from the Properties. This section describes how to apply Video Profiles to folders both ways.
Folders that have a profile already assigned to it are indicated by the display of the profile’s name directly below the folder name.
See also Reprocess assets in a folder after you have edited its processing profile.
Select the Experience Manager logo and navigate to Assets and then to the folder that you want to apply a Video Profile to.
On the folder, select the check mark to select it and then select Properties.
Select the Video Profiles tab and select the profile from the drop-down menu and select Save & Close. Folders that have a profile already assigned to it are indicated by the display of the profile’s name directly below the folder name.
You can monitor the progress of a Video Profile processing job.
In addition to applying a profile to a folder, you can also apply one globally so that any content uploaded into Experience Manager assets in any folder has the selected profile applied.
See also Reprocess assets in a folder.
To apply a Video Profile globally:
Navigate to CRXDE Lite to the following node: /content/dam/jcr:content
. Add the property videoProfile:/libs/settings/dam/video/dynamicmedia/<name of video encoding profile>
and select Save All.
You can monitor the progress of a Video Profile processing job.
A processing indicator (or progress bar) is displayed so you can visually monitor the progress of a Video Profile processing job.
You can also view the error.log
file to monitor the progress of an encoding job, to see if encoding is finished, or to see any job errors. The error.log
is found in the logs
folder where your instance of Experience Manager is installed.
When you remove a Video Profile from a folder, any subfolders automatically inherit the removal of the profile from its parent folder. However, any processing of files that has occurred within the folders remains intact.
You can remove a Video Profile from a folder from within the Tools menu or if you are in the folder, from the Folder Settings. This section describes how to remove Video Profiles from folders both ways.
Select the Experience Manager logo and navigate to Tools > Assets > Video Profiles.
Select the Video Profile that you want to remove from a folder or multiple folders.
Select Remove Profile from Folders and select the folder or multiple folders you want use to remove the profile from and select Remove.
You can confirm that the Video Profile is no longer applied to a folder because the name no longer appears below the folder name.