ApsaraVideo Live provides cost-effective resource plans, including data transfer plans and transcoding plans. You can purchase these resource plans based on your business requirements.
Resource plan types
Resource plan | Description | References |
Live Data Transfer Plan |
Note We recommend this type of resource plans because they are cheaper and simpler. | |
Live Transcoding Plan | You can use a live transcoding plan to offset the length of transcoding in H.264 low definition (LD) based on a ratio of 1:1. You can also use the plan to offset the length of transcoding in H.264 standard definition (SD) based on a ratio of 1:2 or H.264 high definition (HD) based on a ratio of 1:4. |
Resource plan usage rules
Limits
A live data transfer plan (general-purpose data transfer plan, regular data transfer plan, or RTS data transfer plan) can be used to offset traffic fess only if the metering method is pay-by-traffic on a daily basis. If the metering method that you use is pay-by-peak-bandwidth, the general-purpose data transfer plan does not take effect. To use the data transfer plan, you must change the metering method to pay-by-traffic.
A regular live data transfer plan is applicable to a specific region. You cannot use a regular live data transfer plan for a region to offset traffic fees in other regions.
Usage notes
A resource plan takes effect immediately after you purchase it. If a valid resource plan is available, the system preferentially uses the resource plan to offset fees.
You can purchase multiple resource plans. The following rules apply when resource plans of the same type are available.
The resource plan with the earliest expiration time is used first.
If all resource plans of the specific type are exhausted, resource overage is billed on a pay-as-you-go basis.
Each resource plan has a validity period.
A resource plan can be used only within the validity period. If the resource plan expires but is not exhausted, it becomes invalid. Alibaba Cloud does not provide alternatives or supplements for the resource plan.
The validity period of each resource plan is separately calculated. You cannot use multiple resource plans to extend the validity period of a resource plan.
Unsubscription
A resource plan supports a five-day money-back guarantee. The resource plan can be refunded only within five days of purchase, provided that it is not used. The five-day period includes the trial duration. In other cases, refunds are not allowed. For example, the remaining quota of a used or expired resource plan cannot be refunded. For more information, see Five-day money-back guarantee.
Live data transfer plans
Live data transfer plans include general-purpose live data transfer plans and regular live data transfer plans.
General-purpose data transfer plans have a wider coverage than regular data transfer plans and are applicable to all regions. Therefore, general-purpose data transfer plans are more cost-effective.
General-purpose data transfer plan
General-purpose data transfer plans are designed to reduce the costs of resource plan management. They have the following benefits:
1. General-purpose data transfer plans can be used to offset standard streaming traffic, Real-Time Streaming (RTS) traffic, and stream ingest traffic.
2. General-purpose data transfer plans outside the Chinese mainland are provided at a fixed price. You do not need to separately purchase data transfer plans in different regions.
3. Different offset ratios apply to different traffic types (such as standard streaming traffic and RTS traffic) and regions. For example, the offset ratio for standard streaming traffic is different from that for RTS traffic, and the offset ratio for traffic in the Chinese mainland is different from that for traffic outside the Chinese mainland.
Types:
General-purpose data transfer plan for global regions: If your service is distributed only in the Chinese mainland, or both in and outside the Chinese mainland, we recommend that you use this type of data transfer plan.
General-purpose data transfer plan for global regions excluding the Chinese mainland: If your service is distributed outside the Chinese mainland, we recommend that you use this type of data transfer plan, which eliminates the need to calculate different offset ratios for different regions. Take note that you cannot use this type of data transfer plan to offset traffic fees in the Chinese mainland.
For information about the actual prices of the resource plans, visit the buy page.
Both the two types of data transfer plans can be used to offset traffic fees outside the Chinese mainland, with the same unit price of traffic per GB.
Offset scope
1. Standard streaming: covers traffic of standard streaming over protocols such as Real-Time Messaging Protocol (RTMP), Flash Video (FLV), and HTTP Live Streaming (HLS) and stream ingest traffic. By default, stream ingest traffic is free of charge except for specific circumstances. For more information, see Billing of standard streaming. If billing is enabled for upstream traffic of stream ingest, stream ingest fees are offset based on the offset ratio of standard streaming by default.
2. RTS: covers traffic generated when end users use RTS to pull streams.
Offset ratios
General-purpose data transfer plan for global regions:
Item | Offset ratio for traffic in the Chinese mainland | Offset ratio for traffic outside the Chinese mainland |
Standard streaming | 1 | 2.7 |
RTS | 1.5 | 3.7 |
For standard streaming, traffic is offset based on a ratio of 1:1 in the Chinese mainland and a ratio of 1:2.7 outside the Chinese mainland. For RTS, traffic is offset based on a ratio of 1:1.5 in the Chinese mainland and a ratio of 1:3.7 outside the Chinese mainland. Actual amount of traffic consumed =Actual traffic usage × Offset factor.
Example:
A customer purchases a general-purpose data transfer plan of 500 GB that is applicable to global regions. Assume that the customer consumes 10 GB of traffic for standard streaming and 10 GB of traffic for RTS in the Chinese mainland, and consumes 10 GB of traffic for standard streaming and 10 GB of traffic for RTS outside the Chinese mainland. The remaining traffic can be calculated based on the following formula:
Remaining traffic = 500 GB - 10 GB × 1 - 10 GB × 1.5 - 10 GB × 2.7 - 10 GB × 3.7 = 411 GB.
General-purpose data transfer plan for global regions excluding the Chinese mainland
Item | Offset ratio for traffic outside the Chinese mainland |
Standard streaming | 1 |
RTS | 1.4 |
Only the traffic that is generated outside the Chinese mainland can be offset. Standard streaming traffic is offset based on a ratio of 1:1. RTS traffic is offset based on a ratio of 1:1.4.
Examples:
A customer purchases a general-purpose data transfer plan of 500 GB that is applicable to global regions excluding the Chinese mainland. Assume that the customer consumes 10 GB of traffic for standard streaming and 10 GB of traffic for RTS in the Chinese mainland. The remaining traffic is still 500 GB. (The traffic cannot be offset.)
A customer purchases a general-purpose data transfer plan of 500 GB that is applicable to global regions excluding the Chinese mainland. Assume that the customer consumes 10 GB of traffic for standard streaming and 10 GB of traffic for RTS outside the Chinese mainland. The remaining traffic can be calculated based on the following formula: Remaining traffic = 500 GB - 10 GB × 1 - 10 GB × 1.4 = 476 GB. (The traffic can be offset.)
Select a resource plan
In contrast to a regular live data transfer plan, a general-purpose live data transfer plan can be used to offset standard streaming traffic, RTS traffic, and stream ingest traffic in all regions. Therefore, you can purchase general-purpose live data transfer plans based on the total amount of traffic that you need.
Example 1:
A customer wants to purchase the following data transfer plans based on business requirements:
A regular live data transfer plan of 500 GB in the Chinese mainland
A regular live data transfer plan of 500 GB in Europe
A regular live data transfer plan of 500 GB in South America
The equivalent amount of traffic that is required for a general-purpose live data transfer plan can be calculated based on the following formula:
500 GB × 1 + 500 GB × 2.7 + 500 GB × 2.7 = 500 GB + 1,350 GB + 1,350 GB = 3,200 GB
In this case, the customer can simply purchase a general-purpose live data transfer plan of 3,200 GB applicable to global regions to meet the business requirements.
Example 2:
A customer wants to purchase the following data transfer plans based on business requirements:
A regular live data transfer plan of 500 GB in the Chinese mainland
A regular live data transfer plan of 500 GB in Europe
A regular live data transfer plan of 500 GB in South America
Meanwhile, the following amount of RTS traffic is required:
500 GB of RTS traffic in the Chinese mainland
500 GB of RTS traffic in Europe
500 GB of RTS traffic in South America
The equivalent amount of traffic that is required for a general-purpose live data transfer plan can be calculated based on the following formula:
500 GB × 1 + 500 GB × 2.7 + 500 GB × 2.7 + 500 GB × 1.5 + 500 GB × 3.7 + 500 GB × 3.7 = 500 GB + 1,350 GB + 1,350 GB + 750 GB + 1,850 GB + 1,850 GB = 7,650 GB
In this case, the customer can simply purchase a general-purpose live data transfer plan of 7,650 GB applicable to global regions to meet the business requirements.
Regular data transfer plan
A regular data transfer plan can be used to offset traffic of standard streaming. It cannot be used to offset RTS traffic.
ApsaraVideo Live provides eight types of region-specific data transfer plans. You can use the plans to offset only the streaming traffic that is consumed in the corresponding regions. For example, you cannot use a plan for the Chinese mainland to offset the streaming traffic consumed in the "AP1" region.
For information about the actual prices of the resource plans, visit the buy page.
Billing example
A customer purchases a regular data transfer plan of 500 GB that is applicable to the Chinese mainland. Assume that the customer consumes 10 GB of traffic for standard streaming and 10 GB of traffic for RTS in the AP1 region, and consumes 10 GB of traffic for RTS in the Chinese mainland. The remaining traffic is still 500 GB. (The traffic cannot be offset.)
A customer purchases a regular data transfer plan of 500 GB that is applicable to the Chinese mainland. Assume that the customer consumes 10 GB of traffic for standard streaming in the Chinese mainland. The remaining traffic can be calculated based on the following formula: Remaining traffic = 500 GB - 10 GB = 490 GB. (The traffic can be offset.)