Unified Packager

Prepare content for streaming

Prepare your media for Adaptive Bitrate (ABR) playback in HLS, MPEG-DASH, and Smooth Streaming for delivery to any internet connected device. Optionally secure your streams with DRM. Ready for streaming from a standard web server and any Content Delivery Network (CDN).

Key features

  • All industry standard playout formats, HLS (TS & CMAF/fMP4), MPEG-DASH, HbbTV, HDS and Smooth Streaming (HSS)

  • Comprehensive subtitle support, easily convert between formats; WebVTT, SRT, TTML and CEA-608

  • Latest codecs, AV1, HEVC, Dolby Atmos, Dolby AC-4, DTS:X

  • Every major DRM system, FairPlay, Marlin, PlayReady, Widevine

Main benefits

  • Command Line Tool, no need to maintain a web server for operation

  • Deploy anywhere, bare metal on premises, containerized, or in the cloud (even as a Lambda function)

  • Easy to integrate, being command-line based, it fits seamlessly into scripted workflows

  • Deliver the highest quality stream, stream 4K HDR with advanced audio, subtitle and video formats, and add accessibility options

  • Content protection, encryption and support for all major DRM systems with multiple keys and key rotation

  • Broaden your audience, deliver captions for the hard of hearing as well as audio description tracks for the visually impaired

How it works

In a fully static workflow you move your content to your origin server or a CDN after packaging it to all the formats you need. After that it is ready to be delivered to your customers.

Static packaging is the process of changing the file format or ‘container’ in which digital content is stored, e.g. changing a progressive MP4 into a fragmented MP4. This means that for every additional format your assets will be duplicated on disk. Adding encryption (and DRM) can be part of the packaging process.

Schematically this looks like the following:

(mp4) files --> packager --> hds|hls|hss|dash (files)
                                    |
                                 storage (block/object)

Table of contents

The following sections document how to package content for Unified Origin (USP), HTTP Smooth Streaming (HSS), HTTP Dynamic Streaming (HDS), HTTP Live Streaming (HLS) and MPEG-DASH.