Live stream transcoding is available as Standard Transcoding, Narrowband HD™ Transcoding, and Audio-only Transcoding. Billing is based on the transcoding type, resolution, and total duration.
Billing methods
ApsaraVideo Live provides two billing methods for transcoding: pay-as-you-go and resource plans.
|
Billing method |
Description |
Scenarios |
|
Pay-as-you-go |
No upfront purchase required. Usage is calculated daily and fees are automatically deducted from your account balance. |
Your business has fluctuating usage or you are a new user. |
|
Resource plan (subscription) |
Purchase a fixed amount of transcoding time in advance to offset usage, typically at a lower unit price. Subscription resource plans. |
Your business has stable usage and you want to reduce long-term costs. |
Billing rules
Transcoding fees are based on the output streams you configure:
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Billable items: Fees depend on the output specifications (transcoding type, encoding format, and resolution) and total duration of the transcoded stream. Viewer count does not affect billing.
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For example, if you configure three transcoded streams with different resolutions for one original live stream, you are charged for three transcoded streams.
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Billing formula: Total daily transcoding fee = Σ (Unit price of each transcoded stream × Length of each transcoded stream)
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Length calculation: Measured in minutes. Each job is calculated independently, rounded up to 1 minute, and aggregated daily.
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Billing and deduction: Daily bills are generated for the previous day's usage and deducted from your account. Valid resource plans offset usage first; excess is billed on a pay-as-you-go basis.
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Other rules: The original quality template for Real-Time Streaming (RTS) transcoding is billed based on the Standard Transcoding specifications.
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Transcoding trigger: When enabled, transcoding starts only when a transcoded stream is first pulled. When disabled, transcoding starts as soon as a stream is ingested regardless of pull status. Live stream transcoding.
Transcoding pricing
ApsaraVideo Live offers Standard Transcoding, Narrowband HD™ Transcoding, and Audio-only Transcoding. Pricing depends on the transcoding type, encoding format, resolution, and live center region. Current rates are on the ApsaraVideo Live pricing page.
Transcoding fees are tiered by output resolution. The system maps the output to a pricing tier based on the width and height in the transcoding template:
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If neither the short side nor the long side of the output exceeds a tier's upper limit, the output is billed at that tier.
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If either side exceeds a tier's limit, the output is billed at the next higher tier. For example, if the output resolution is
1300×700, the stream is billed at the 1080p tier because the long side,1300, exceeds the 720p tier's long-side limit of1280.
Standard transcoding pricing
|
Standard Transcoding specification (H.264) |
China (USD/minute) |
Singapore (USD/minute) |
Japan (USD/minute) |
Germany (USD/minute) |
Indonesia (USD/minute) |
Saudi Arabia (USD/minute) |
Output specification |
|
480P (LD) |
0.0025 |
0.0025 |
0.0025 |
0.0025 |
0.0025 |
0.003 |
Short side ≤ 480 and long side ≤ 640 |
|
720P (SD) |
0.005 |
0.005 |
0.005 |
0.005 |
0.005 |
0.006 |
Short side ≤ 720 and long side ≤ 1280 |
|
1080P (HD) |
0.0099 |
0.0099 |
0.0099 |
0.0056 |
0.0099 |
0.01188 |
Short side ≤ 1080 and long side ≤ 1920 |
|
2K (2K) |
0.0198 |
0.0198 |
0.0198 |
0.0112 |
0.0198 |
0.02376 |
Short side ≤ 1440 and long side ≤ 2560 |
|
4K (4K) |
0.0396 |
0.0396 |
0.0396 |
0.0224 |
0.0396 |
0.04752 |
Short side ≤ 2160 and long side ≤ 3840 |
|
Standard Transcoding specification (H.265) |
China (USD/minute) |
Singapore (USD/minute) |
Japan (USD/minute) |
Germany (USD/minute) |
Indonesia (USD/minute) |
Saudi Arabia (USD/minute) |
Output specification |
|
480P (LD) |
0.0125 |
0.0125 |
0.0125 |
0.013 |
0.0125 |
0.015 |
Short side ≤ 480 and long side ≤ 640 |
|
720P (SD) |
0.025 |
0.025 |
0.025 |
0.025 |
0.025 |
0.03 |
Short side ≤ 720 and long side ≤ 1280 |
|
1080P (HD) |
0.0495 |
0.0495 |
0.0495 |
0.028 |
0.0495 |
0.0594 |
Short side ≤ 1080 and long side ≤ 1920 |
|
2K (2K) |
0.099 |
0.099 |
0.099 |
0.056 |
0.099 |
0.1188 |
Short side ≤ 1440 and long side ≤ 2560 |
|
4K (4K) |
0.198 |
0.198 |
0.198 |
0.112 |
0.198 |
0.2376 |
Short side ≤ 2160 and long side ≤ 3840 |
Narrowband HD™ transcoding pricing
Narrowband HD™ Transcoding uses high-performance transcoding clusters and advanced encoding algorithms to achieve higher compression at the same video quality, reducing traffic by 30% to 50% on average compared with standard transcoding. Supports H.264 and H.265.
|
Narrowband HD™ Transcoding specification (H.264) |
China (USD/minute) |
Singapore (USD/minute) |
Japan (USD/minute) |
Germany (USD/minute) |
Indonesia (USD/minute) |
Saudi Arabia (USD/minute) |
Output specification |
|
480P (LD) |
0.0097 |
0.0099 |
0.0099 |
0.0056 |
0.0099 |
0.01188 |
Short side ≤ 480 and long side ≤ 640 |
|
720P (SD) |
0.0191 |
0.0198 |
0.0198 |
0.0112 |
0.0198 |
0.02376 |
Short side ≤ 720 and long side ≤ 1280 |
|
1080P (HD) |
0.0382 |
0.0396 |
0.0396 |
0.0224 |
0.0396 |
0.04752 |
Short side ≤ 1080 and long side ≤ 1920 |
|
2K (2K) |
0.0775 |
0.0792 |
0.0792 |
0.0448 |
0.0792 |
0.09504 |
Short side ≤ 1440 and long side ≤ 2560 |
|
4K (4K) |
0.1550 |
0.1584 |
0.1584 |
0.0896 |
0.1584 |
0.19008 |
Short side ≤ 2160 and long side ≤ 3840 |
|
Narrowband HD™ Transcoding specification (H.265) |
China (USD/minute) |
Singapore (USD/minute) |
Japan (USD/minute) |
Germany (USD/minute) |
Indonesia (USD/minute) |
Saudi Arabia (USD/minute) |
Output specification |
|
480P (LD) |
0.0194 |
0.0198 |
0.0198 |
0.0112 |
0.0198 |
0.02376 |
Short side ≤ 480 and long side ≤ 640 |
|
720P (SD) |
0.0382 |
0.0396 |
0.0396 |
0.0224 |
0.0396 |
0.04752 |
Short side ≤ 720 and long side ≤ 1280 |
|
1080P (HD) |
0.0764 |
0.0792 |
0.0792 |
0.0448 |
0.0792 |
0.09504 |
Short side ≤ 1080 and long side ≤ 1920 |
|
2K (2K) |
0.155 |
0.1584 |
0.1584 |
0.0896 |
0.1584 |
0.19008 |
Short side ≤ 1440 and long side ≤ 2560 |
|
4K (4K) |
0.31 |
0.3168 |
0.3168 |
0.1792 |
0.3168 |
0.38016 |
Short side ≤ 2160 and long side ≤ 3840 |
Audio-only pricing
|
Item |
China (USD/minute) |
Singapore (USD/minute) |
Japan (USD/minute) |
Germany (USD/minute) |
Indonesia (USD/minute) |
Saudi Arabia (USD/minute) |
|
Audio-only transcoding |
0.0015 |
0.0046 |
0.0046 |
0.003 |
0.0046 |
0.00552 |
Billing examples
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On June 17, in a live center in Singapore, two 1080p streams were transcoded using Standard Transcoding (H.264) for 45 minutes and 55 minutes, respectively. In addition, three 2K streams were transcoded using Narrowband HD™ Transcoding (H.264), each for 30 minutes.
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The Singapore live center uses Alibaba Cloud International pricing: USD 0.0099/min for 1080p Standard Transcoding (H.264) and USD 0.0792/min for 2K Narrowband HD™ Transcoding (H.264).
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Result:
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Standard Transcoding (H.264) fee: USD 0.0099 per minute × (45 + 55) minutes = USD 0.99
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Narrowband HD™ Transcoding (H.264) fee: USD 0.0792 per minute × 30 minutes × 3 streams = USD 7.128
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Total transcoding fee: USD 0.99 + USD 7.128 = USD 8.118
The total fee for the Singapore live center on June 17 is USD 8.118. The bill is generated after 00:00 on June 18 and automatically deducted from your account balance. Exact billing time may vary.
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