Cloud Production Studio overview

Service architecture

Architecture diagram

Scenarios

Cloud Production Studio provides three types of production studios for different application scenarios: the general-purpose production studio, the playlist-based production studio, and the virtual studio.

General-purpose production studio

The general-purpose production studio supports multi-stream mixing, graphic overlays, and real-time captions. It accepts live streams and VOD files as input, combines multiple feeds into a single output, and lets you overlay watermarks, logos, text banners, and captions.

Note

In the general-purpose production studio, all added sources are treated as live streams and play in the background from the moment they are added. The playback position when switching to PVW or PGM depends on when the switch occurs. To start playback from the first frame, use the playlist-based production studio instead.

Scenario	Description
Live sports events	Combine streams from multiple cameras with scoreboards, event intros, commercial breaks, and sponsor overlays.
E-commerce live streaming	Streamers interact with co-hosts while overlaying images, text, watermarks, logos, and real-time captions.
Enterprise live streaming	PVW and PGM modes with low-latency switching, pre-show warm-ups, backup resources, and stream delay up to 5 minutes.
Live streaming solution providers	Real-time graphic overlays and multi-language captions improve live stream quality. Service providers can integrate the Web SDK to reduce development costs.

Playlist-based production studio

The playlist-based production studio aggregates multiple video programs into playlist-style live channels. It supports full CRUD operations on playlists and program content, with flexible API integration.

Note

The playlist-based production studio does not currently support real-time graphic overlays such as watermarks, logos, text banners, or captions. You can only sort, edit, and delete video sources.

Scenario	Description
New media for radio and television	Aggregate video programs into playlist-style live channels with full playlist CRUD operations and flexible API integration.
News broadcasting	Categorize news programs for 24/7 carousel playback with automatic ad insertion every 30 minutes.
Pseudo-live streaming applications	Aggregate live programs, VOD videos, and images into playlist-style channels to maintain continuous content. Supports real-time or scheduled ad insertion for monetization.
Entertainment live streaming	Create playlists from VOD videos for co-watching, or from live programs and highlight reels to increase watch time and engagement.

Virtual studio

The virtual studio provides automatic chroma keying and blending for blue screens, green screens, or real-world streams. It supports multiple devices, camera angles, and remote multi-location broadcasting. Cloud-based composition enables dual screens, split screens, and Picture-in-Picture (PiP).

Scenario	Description
Domestic and international sports and competitive event broadcasting	Broadcast sports and competitive events from multiple locations with remote commentary, multi-host modes, event intros, commercial breaks, and sponsor overlays.
E-commerce and event live streaming	Insert text and multimedia overlays during live presentations. Enrich content with co-hosting, Q&A sessions, and host commentary. Change backgrounds to match specific scenarios for an immersive experience.
Television program production	Switch between multiple cameras to change scene angles. Cloud-based chroma keying and composition enable dual screens, split screens, and PiP for professional program production.

Production studio interface

The following areas make up the Cloud Production Studio interface.

Note

When you create a production studio instance and enter the production studio interface for the first time, the configuration panel appears automatically. To reopen it, click Live Settings in the upper-right corner.

Playlist-based production studio

Number	Description
①	Add a single program.
②	Stop or start the live stream at any time.
③	Set the number of times the entire playlist loops.
④	Switch to a specific program.
⑤	Adjust the playlist order.
⑥	Delete the video resource.

General-purpose production studio / Virtual studio

Number	Area	Description
①	Input source media management	Add and preview video sources for Cloud Production Studio. General-purpose Cloud Production Studio: Video sources for production. Virtual studio: Includes chroma key input sources and multimedia input sources.
②	Preview (PVW)	Monitor and debug video effects for Cloud Production Studio. Not visible to end users. Click Sync to PGM to push changes to the Program output.
③	Program (PGM)	Displays the live output that end users are watching.
④	Layout management	Custom layouts for multiple live video screens.
⑤	Component management	Edit components such as images and text overlaid on the live stream in real time.
⑥	Caption management	Multi-language captions that are overlaid on the live stream in real time.
⑦	Audio mixer	Adjust volume, gain, and locally monitor output audio for individual tracks. Note The volume gain feature is not available in the virtual studio.

Core benefits

Benefit	Description
Low latency	Video switching latency as low as 600 ms through optimized multi-stage processing.
Low cost	Fully cloud-based with no hardware or software required. Pay-as-you-go billing.
Multiple content sources	Supports live and VOD video sources, images, documents, and web pages. Mix up to 12 video sources in real time.
Cloud-native capabilities	Integrates video AI, bilingual translation, and live interaction capabilities on Alibaba Cloud infrastructure.
Flexible and easy to use	Cloud Production Studio is accessible through the console, API, or Web SDK. Manage Cloud Production Studio directly in the console without coding, or build custom integrations with the API or SDK.
On-demand usage	Purchase or release production studio instances at any time.

Core features

Feature	Description
Stream and media fillers	Mix up to 12 video streams simultaneously from multiple input sources.
Preview mode	Supports PVW and PGM modes with low-latency switching.
Custom layouts	Provides both landscape and portrait modes. Customize the stream mixing layout as needed.
Backup and stream delay	Pre-show warm-ups, temporary backup resources, and stream delay up to 5 minutes.
Audio mixer	Adjust volume and gain for multiple audio tracks. Enable or disable audio follow.
Component overlay	Overlay images, text, watermarks, logos, text banners, and real-time captions on the live stream.
Real-time captions	Speech recognition-powered bilingual captions overlaid on live video in real time.
Automatic cloud recording	Record video files in various formats during live stream output.
Multiple definitions	Multiple video resolutions from low to high definition for various screen sizes.
Playlist-based production studio	Aggregate video programs into playlist-style live channels. Supports full CRUD operations on playlists and program content with flexible API integration. Create a playlist to enable live streaming. Each playlist can contain up to 1,000 programs. Run multiple carousel playlists simultaneously for concurrent live streaming in multiple channels. Loop the playlist content or play it once. Replace the content of a playlist and change the playback order during playback. Stop the playback of a playlist. Delete a playlist. Fine-tune the content of a playlist. Completely change the content of a playlist.

Features

Category	Feature	Description
Input source	Live stream source	Pull streams from the live center or input a live stream URL directly: Supports HLS, RTS, RTMP, and HTTP-FLV protocol live streams. Alibaba Cloud Push SDKs and demos for iOS, Android, and Web. Common third-party stream ingest software, such as OBS, XSplit, and FMLE.
Input source	Media file	Video formats: 3gp, asf, avi, dat, dv, flv, f4v, gif, m2t, m3u8. m4v, mj2, mjpeg, mkv, mov, mp4, mpe, mpg, mpeg. mts, ogg, qt, rm, rmvb, swf, ts, vob, wmv, webm. Important Upload all media files to the VOD material library before use. Media asset management.
Output stream	Live stream	Supported protocols: RTMP HLS HTTP-FLV Alibaba Real-Time Communication (ARTC)
Output stream	Live stream recording	You can customize the recording length. Supported recording formats: FLV MP4 M3U8
Media processing	Video layout	You can customize multi-screen layouts. Screen units can be filled with live stream sources or media files.
	Padding stream	Switch between live streams.
	Gasket	Switch to a media file.
	Component overlay	Supports file watermark and image watermark overlays.
	Multi-angle stream mixing	You can associate multiple input sources from different angles and combine them into a single multi-angle stream.
Production features	PVW and PGM support	You can customize multi-screen layouts. Screen units can be filled with live stream sources or media files.
	Emergency backup	Configure a backup clip to switch to during the live stream. Only media files are supported.
	Bypass stream ingest	Push the live stream to third-party platforms for distribution.
	Stream delay	Configure a delay for live stream playback.