Lightcast: Get Your Content Seen in Multiple Formats

MP4, MOV, AVI, HEVC, H.264, MKV, and the list goes on. If you aren't familiar with those abbreviations, they're file formats for video content. Dozens of video formats exist. Likewise, there are now dozens of places to publish your content, ranging from OTT platforms like Roku and Amazon FireTV to Connected TV networks like Samsung's Smart TV media player. With a Content Delivery Network (CDN), you won't have to juggle all these formats. Upload once and publish everywhere, here's how.

Why Format Matters

Even many experienced content creators are unfamiliar with video formats and why they matter for content creation. Video formats dictate the features that your video can support. For example, Microsoft's AVI format doesn't allow for streaming, while Google's WEBM format supports transparency and even 3D video! Feature-rich formats like Apple's MOV, also known as QuickTime, can do it all but require Apple-licensed media players. The format you choose has a direct impact on the experience your viewers will have.

However, the choice is not yours to make anymore. OTT platforms like YouTube, Roku, FireTV, and others, dictate the formats you can upload. While some platforms, particularly YouTube, allow you to upload a variety of formats, they are then reencoded to the format that YouTube uses for distribution. Nevertheless, certain formats do not convert well, which could lead to problems. You have to use a format that plays nicely with each platform, and that presents a problem.

The Technical Challenge

As any content creator knows, rendering a video takes time and is prone to failure. Renders frequently crash and the amount of computing resources they take up is enough to make your entire computer unusable while you export your video. Even powerful PCs struggle to output high-definition content in 4K. HDR renders are likewise complex. Even if your computer never fails, each render has added gigabytes to your hard drives, taking up valuable storage space.

The last thing you want to do is spend more time rendering. However, to succeed in today's content environment, you must publish to multiple platforms. One platform means one audience. Some people prefer to watch content through their TV, others don't mind sitting in bed with a laptop and watching YouTube. If you don't cover multiple platforms, you're slashing the value of your content. After putting in so much work, don't you want to get the most out of it?

Content for Every Media Player

There's an easy solution to get your content onto every platform without turning your computer into a permanent space heater. With a Content Delivery Network, you upload your content once to a cloud-based network of computers. Those powerful processors will then convert your original, high-quality video, into the right format for each platform. From there, the data is delivered to each platform and now your content is everywhere.

The Lightcast Media Cloud does exactly that: One render, one upload, infinite possibilities. Request a callback from Lightcast or send us an email to learn more.