Video API

A Video API allows developers to add short-form and long videos to web apps. It offers upload, storage, URL-based video manipulation, encoding for optimal playback on different devices, adaptive bitrate streaming, and optimized CDN delivery.

A Video API consolidates multiple tools into a single solution, streamlining workflows and simplifying the architecture for video management. Developers can use URL-based transformations to adapt videos at scale and deliver optimized video experiences across platforms.

Whether you are serving a short video on a landing page, a product video on an e-commerce site, or a video tutorial on a learning platform, a Video API can help you create engaging video experiences. Other use cases include video conferencing, live streaming, and video-sharing platforms.

Key features include video upload and storage, URL-based video manipulation, encoding for different devices, adaptive bitrate streaming, secure delivery, and analytics.

Adaptive bitrate streaming adjusts the quality of a video stream in real-time based on the viewer’s network conditions and device capabilities, ensuring smooth playback with minimal buffering even on low-bandwidth connections. Learn more.

Video manipulation features typically include cropping, resizing, adding watermarks or text overlays, adjusting colors, applying filters, trimming videos, generating thumbnails, and more. ImageKit also offers AI-powered smart crop that automatically tracks faces, people, or any of 80+ objects throughout the video, making it easy to repurpose content for different aspect ratios. These transformations can be applied in real time using URL parameters.

A Video API typically supports various video formats such as MP4, WebM, HLS, DASH, and others, ensuring compatibility with different devices and platforms.

ImageKit offers enough Video processing units (VPUs) to get started with the Video API. You can create a free account to start using the Video API and explore its features.

File size limitations vary depending on your plan type. ImageKit Video API is enterprise-grade, and limits can be customized to specific requirements.  Learn more.

ImageKit's Video API processes videos only once and caches them forever. At the moment, we don't charge for this managed storage but only for the VPU consumed during processing and bandwidth consumed during delivery. Learn more.

Video processing time depends on the size of the video and the number of transformations applied. ImageKit's Video API is designed to process small to large videos in near real-time, ensuring quick delivery and optimal performance. Learn more from docs about first-time request processing.