MediaCP Manual
    1. Getting Started
    2. Sales Questions
    3. Frequently Asked Questions
    4. Transcoder System Benchmarks
    5. Start your own streaming platform
    1. Change account currency
    2. Product Licensing
    1. Introduction
    2. Installation & Upgrade
      1. System Requirements
      2. Versions & Releases
      3. Installation
      4. Upgrading
      5. Streaming Servers
        1. Nginx-Rtmp Video Server
        2. Wowza Streaming Engine
        3. Flussonic Media Server
        4. Video Feature Comparison
        5. Icecast 2 / Icecast KH
      6. SSL Certificates
    3. Billing Integration
      1. WHMCS Integration Guide
      2. Clientexec Integration Guide
      3. Blesta Integration Guide
    4. Migrate from other software
      1. Migrate from Centovacast
    5. Backup & Restoration
      1. Backup MediaCP
      2. Restore MediaCP
      3. Transfer to another server
    6. Administration
      1. Custom Web Service Configurations
      2. Reset Admin Password
      3. Port 80 / 443 Proxy
      4. MediaCP System Commands
      5. Change MediaCP domain name
      6. Move media to another hard disk
      7. Secure your server
      8. Troubleshooting Login Errors
      9. Custom Facebook App
    7. Scaling
      1. Scale with Wowza and CloudFront CDN
      2. Nginx-Rtmp with CloudFront CDN
    8. Troubleshooting
      1. Grant access to support team
      2. Troubleshooting Wowza Streaming Engine
      3. FTP Troubleshooting
      4. MySQL Database Troubleshooting
      5. Reporting Troubleshooting
      6. Troubleshooting Liquidsoap AutoDJ
      7. Video Relay Troubleshooting
    1. Introduction
    2. Administrators Dashboard
    3. System Configuration
      1. General
      2. Services
      3. Video Players
      4. Albums
      5. Email
      6. Plugins
      7. Statistics
      8. Backups
      9. Custom HTML
      10. Misc
    4. Customer Accounts
      1. Managing existing Customers
      2. Create a new Customer
      3. Deleting a Customer
      4. Login as another Customer
      5. Send email to Customer
      6. Reset Customer Password
    5. Reseller Accounts
      1. Reseller Plans
      2. Create a Reseller Account
    6. Media Services
      1. Creating a Media Service
      2. Deleting a Media Service
    7. Announcements
      1. Managing Announcements
      2. Creating Announcement
      3. Deleting Announcement
    8. Statistics
    9. Software Health
    10. Software Updates
    11. Email Templates
    12. API
    1. Introduction
    2. Audio Operation Manual
      1. Basics 101
      2. Station Overview
      3. Media Library
      4. Playlists
        1. General Rotation
        2. Jingles & Advertising
        3. Scheduling
        4. Repeat Protection
      5. Live DJ Connections
      6. Live Stream Recording
      7. DJ Manager
      8. Country Blocking
      9. Stream Proxy
      10. Widgets & Links
      11. Reporting
    3. Reseller Operations Manual
      1. Reseller Dashboard
      2. Customers
      3. Media Services
    1. API Documentation
    2. Custom Domain Names
    3. Shoutcast 2 Admin Guide
    4. Wowza and Flussonic on same system
    5. Submit a feature request
    6. Wowza Custom Properties
    1. Shoutcast 2 Live Broadcasting
    2. DJ Priorities
    3. HTML5 Audio Player
    4. Broadcasting with AutoDJ
    5. Shoutcast 2 Premium
    6. Mount Points
    1. Getting started with video streaming
    2. Live Streaming Overview
    3. TV Station Overview
    4. Ondemand Video Streaming
    5. Relay & IP Camera
    6. GeoIP Country Locking
    7. VAST Advertising
    8. Stream Recording
    9. Connecting your encoder
    10. Managing your media files
    11. Understanding Video Playlists
    12. Embedding player on your website
    13. Smooth Streaming and Content Transition
    14. Video Transcoding (Adaptive Bitrate Streaming)
    15. Image Logo or Watermark Overlay on Video Stream
    16. DVR Rewind
    17. Statistics
    18. Facebook Live Streaming
    19. Youtube Stream Publishing
    20. Twitch Stream Publishing
    21. Shoutcast 2 Stream Publishing
    22. Icecast Stream Publishing
    23. RTMP Stream Publishing
    1. Cloud Video Overview
    2. Admin Manual - Cloud Video
      1. Login to your cloud platform
      2. Dashboard - A First Look
      3. Branding your platform
      4. Team & Staff Members
      5. Plans & Customers
      6. WHMCS Billing Provisioning Module
      7. Activating VOD on Customer Plan
    3. User Manual - Cloud Video
      1. Login to your video platform
      2. First Look
      3. Creating a Channel
      4. Channel Overview
      5. Broadcasting
      6. Recording
      7. Fallback Video
      8. TV Channels - 24x7 UGC
      9. Video on Demand
      10. VOD Playlists
      11. Publishing
      12. Viewing Analytics
      13. Publish Zoom Meetings
      14. Advertising
      15. Restreaming IP Cameras
    4. Video Guide Series
    5. Streaming Best Practices
    6. Feature Comparison
    7. Roadmap & Release Notes
Streaming Best Practices

Last updated 1 month ago

To ensure the highest quality playback experience, you should always begin with the highest quality content possible.

Aspect Ratio

To ensure video content is not stretched inappropriately during playback you should ensure your source content is encoded with the correct display aspect ratio and square pixels. Ensuring your aspect ratio is the same as your playback locations will prevent black bars from being displayed on your content during playback.

Profile – Baseline, Main or High?

The profile determines how the H.264 codec compresses the stream. Greater compression produces smaller streams; less compression generally means better quality. Profiles are based on the streaming application:

  • High is geared for high-definition playback devices.
  • Main is suited for standard-definition broadcast and desktop streaming.
  • Baseline is suited for playback on mobile devices and for compatibility with older playback devices.

Bitrate

When preparing your source encode, you should allow for 40% of your total bandwidth overhead, that means if you have a 10Mbps connection you should not exceed 6Mbps on your encoder.

You can test your upload bandwidth at https://www.speedtest.net/

RTMPS, WebRTC & SRT

For optimal security of your streams, we recommend using the RTMPS stream URL and key. This will encrypt your live stream.

WebRTC & SRT ingest streaming will be available soon!

Encoder Examples

The following examples offer a great place to start.

 

Full HD 1080p

 
  • Resolution / Output: 1920 x 1080
  • Video Bitrate: 2000 – 4500Kbps
  • Keyframe Interval: 2 Seconds
  • Profile: Main or High
  • Audio Bitrate: 128 Kbps AAC

HD 720p

  • Resolution / Output: 1280 x 720
  • Video Bitrate: 850 – 3000 Kbps
  • Keyframe Interval: 2 Seconds
  • Profile: Main or High
  • Audio Bitrate: 96 Kbps AAC

SD 480p

  • Resolution / Output: 852 x 480
  • Video Bitrate: 500 – 2000 Kbps
  • Keyframe Interval: 2 Seconds
  • Profile: Main or High
  • Audio Bitrate: 96 Kbps AAC

LD 240p

  • Resolution / Output: 320 x 240
  • Video Bitrate: 300 – 850 Kbps
  • Keyframe Interval: 2 Seconds
  • Profile: Baseline
  • Audio Bitrate: 64 Kbps AAC

Table of Contents