This page documents production updates to the Transcoder API. Check this page for announcements about new or updated features, bug fixes, known issues, and deprecated functionality.
You can see the latest product updates for all of Google Cloud on the Google Cloud page, browse and filter all release notes in the Google Cloud console, or programmatically access release notes in BigQuery.
To get the latest product updates delivered to you, add the URL of this page to your feed reader, or add the feed URL directly.
May 22, 2025
Standalone VTT outputs are now supported.
February 04, 2025
Standalone MP3 audio-only outputs are now supported.
October 07, 2024
Standalone OGG Vorbis audio-only outputs are now supported.
February 23, 2024
You can now set an exact frame rate on the output video. For more information, see Frame rate conversion strategies.
February 05, 2024
You can now convert the input video in a transcoding job to a supported high dynamic range (HDR) format.
July 10, 2023
Content encryption (DRM) is now supported.
Job processing optimizations can now be disabled.
You can now set the priority of individual jobs in batch mode.
April 06, 2023
Overlays can now be created using PNG images (with or without transparency).
April 03, 2023
Batch mode is now supported. You can use it to create thousands of jobs that will be processed on a first in, first out basis.
March 02, 2023
February 15, 2023
Validation checks added for segmentDuration and gopDuration for all video codecs as outlined in the documentation. This change was released earlier this month.
November 17, 2022
The output color space of transcoded videos matches the input color space.
August 25, 2022
Deinterlace configurations are now supported.
August 23, 2022
Audio-only outputs are now supported. For more information, see the Pricing page and the sample configuration.
Labels are now supported. Labels are key-value pairs you can use to organize resources.
March 01, 2022
February 01, 2022
VP9 codec settings do not support a rateControlMode set to crf (constant rate factor).
The v1beta1 API is no longer available. As previously announced, the v1beta1 API was deprecated in July 2021.
Added v1 gcloud commands.
Added a guide on how to concatenate multiple input videos into a single output video.
Added a guide on how to include captions and subtitles in an output video.
November 01, 2021
Added PHP code samples.
September 30, 2021
Transcoder API is GA: The Transcoder API has graduated out of beta and has reached v1. All API endpoints are updated to use https://transcoder.googleapis.com/v1/.
Added Troubleshooting guide.
Added guidance on job limits.
August 31, 2021
All client library code samples updated to v1 of the API.
Delete operations for jobs and job templates now return a 404 resource not found error if the specified resource name does not exist. Previously, these delete operations failed silently in this case. To enable the previous behavior, set the allowMissing query parameter to true when sending a request to delete a job or job template.
Encryption support (and its associated documentation) is temporarily unavailable.
August 02, 2021
Added new quotas in order to group requests into 3 buckets: mutation, get, and list. More information can be found at Quotas and limits.
July 13, 2021
Transcoder v1 API is now available. See the migration guide for information on how to update your job templates to the new version.
The Transcoder v1beta1 API is deprecated and will be turned down. It is replaced by the Transcoder v1 API.
The API outputs CEA-608 captions instead of CEA-708.
March 31, 2021
Beta stage support for VPC Service Controls.
February 26, 2021
Sprite sheets now support different image compression levels with the new quality
setting.
Sprite sheets now preserve the source aspect ratio. Set the sprite width or height field, but not both (the API will automatically calculate the missing field).
The API now supports video padding with black.
November 16, 2020
Added Shaka player compatibility for Dash and HLS CEA608/CEA708. Shaka player version 3.0 is used for validation testing.
The Transcoder API preserves the aspect ratio of the source video.
The Transcoder API supports cropping.
Improved performance for short input files.
Client libraries released.
The Transcoder API supports overlays.
The Cloud SDK now supports the Transcoder API.
Content encryption is supported for the following containers:
| Type | Technology | Format | Video Codecs | Audio Codecs | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| H.264 | H.265 | AAC | |||
| DRM | FairPlay | HLS | TS (SAMPLE-AES) | fMP4 (SAMPLE-AES) | TS (SAMPLE-AES) |
| fMP4 (SAMPLE-AES) | fMP4 (SAMPLE-AES) | ||||
| DRM | Widevine, PlayReady | DASH | fMP4 (MPEG-CENC) | fMP4 (MPEG-CENC) | |
| DRM | Widevine, PlayReady | HLS | fMP4 (MPEG-CENC) | fMP4 (MPEG-CENC) | |
| Content protection | AES-128 | HLS, DASH | fMP4, TS (AES-128) | fMP4, TS (AES-128) | fMP4, TS (AES-128) |
July 22, 2020
The Transcoder API provides output video using the VP9 codec.
The Transcoder API provides output subtitles using the WebVTT container.
The Transcoder API supports the following encryption standards for audio and video outputs:
- AES-128 and SAMPLE-AES for TS
- MPEG Common Encryption (MPEG-CENC) for fmp4
June 12, 2020
The Transcoder API provides output video using the H.265 codec.
The cumulative size of input files was limited to 150 GB per job. This size has been increased to 400 GB per job.
April 15, 2020
Private beta release: The Transcoder API converts video files into formats suitable for consumer distribution.
The Transcoder API provides output video using the H.264 codec.
The Transcoder API supports the following audio coding standards for audio output:
- Dolby Digital audio codec (AC-3)
- Dolby Digital plus, also known as enhanced AC-3 (E-AC-3)
- Advanced audio coding high-efficiency (AAC-HE)
- Advanced audio coding low-complexity (AAC-LC)
The Transcoder API supports the following output container formats:
- MPEG-4 (MP4)
- Dynamic adaptive streaming over HTTP (DASH, also known as MPEG-DASH), comprising of a manifest and fMP4 files
- HTTP Live Streaming (HLS), comprising of manifests and media files
- MPEG transport stream
The Transcoder API supports the following additional advanced capabilities:
- Reusable job templates for managing job configurations
- Caption mapping
- Edit lists
- Manifest naming and stream control
- Priority queues
- Ad-break and SCTE-35 insertion in streams and manifests
- Flexible multiplexing and reusable elementary streams
- Customizable H.264 codec parameters
- Audio normalization during preprocessing
- Sprite sheet generation, for previews and thumbnails
- Pub/Sub notifications
The cumulative size of input files is limited to 150 GB per job.
VPC Service Controls is not supported. If your Google Cloud project uses VPC Service Controls, you can't set up a service perimeter around the Transcoder API.
The default preset/web-hd preset
assumes every input file has at least one audio and one video track. If the
input doesn't include either audio or video, the job fails.
Output is limited to a maximum frame rate of 120 fps and resolution of 3840 x 2160.