ApsaraVideo VOD charges for basic services, including media storage, storage outbound traffic, acceleration, and media transcoding. By default, the pay-as-you-go billing method is used, and you are charged based on the actual usage of each billable item. This topic describes the pricing and provides billing examples for each billable item.
Billable items
Note The pricing information in this topic is for reference only. The actual prices are subject to the pricing on the official website. For more information, see VOD Pricing Details.
Category | Description |
Media storage billing | Fees are incurred when you upload audio or video files to ApsaraVideo VOD using the upload service. |
Media transcoding billing | Fees are incurred when you perform regular transcoding or Narrowband HD transcoding on resource files stored in ApsaraVideo VOD. You are charged for each transcoding job based on the specification and duration of the output file and the storage region. You are not charged for failed transcoding jobs. |
Outbound traffic from storage billing | If you do not use a content delivery network (CDN) for acceleration, which means no accelerated domain name is configured in ApsaraVideo VOD, you are charged for downstream traffic that is generated when you download or play media from a VOD storage address over the Internet. |
Acceleration service billing | If you use a CDN for acceleration, you are charged acceleration fees for video playback. |
For example, if you upload an audio or video file to ApsaraVideo VOD for storage, transcode the file, and then configure an accelerated domain name for playback, your total fee is the sum of the media storage fee, media transcoding fee, and acceleration service fee.
Media storage billing
Data storage
ApsaraVideo VOD provides a media storage service. You are charged storage fees based on the type, size, and storage duration of your files. The unit price varies by storage region.
Note Tiered storage is supported only in the Chinese mainland (Shanghai, Beijing, and Shenzhen) and Singapore regions. You can change the storage class to store media assets in ApsaraVideo VOD as Infrequent Access, Archive Storage, or Cold Archive files.
Billable item | Billing rule | Billing cycle and pricing | Billing method |
Standard storage usage | You are charged based on the size and storage duration of Standard files. The unit price varies by storage region. | Billing Cycle: You are billed on an hourly basis. Fees are deducted in real time. A bill is typically generated 4 to 6 hours after a billing cycle ends. The exact generation time is determined by the system. Pricing: For more information, see the pricing table for media storage below.
| Pay-as-you-go: Hourly Standard storage fee = File storage usage (GB) × Monthly price per GB ÷ 30 days ÷ 24 hours
Note A month is calculated as 30 days. Resource Plans are storage plans offered by ApsaraVideo VOD. For more information about pricing and usage, see Resource plans.
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Infrequent Access storage usage | You are charged based on the size and storage duration of Infrequent Access files. The unit price varies by storage region.
Important Infrequent Access files have a minimum billable size. A file smaller than 64 KB is billed as 64 KB. Infrequent Access files have a minimum storage duration. If a file is overwritten or deleted after being stored for less than 30 days (720 hours), you are charged for a 30-day (720-hour) storage duration.
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Archive Storage usage | You are charged based on the size and storage duration of Archive Storage files. The unit price varies by storage region.
Important Archive Storage files have a minimum billable size. A file smaller than 64 KB is billed as 64 KB. Archive Storage files have a minimum storage duration. If a file is overwritten or deleted after being stored for less than 60 days (1440 hours), you are charged for a 60-day (1440-hour) storage duration.
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Cold Archive storage usage | You are charged based on the size and storage duration of Cold Archive files. The unit price varies by storage region.
Important Cold Archive files have a minimum billable size. A file smaller than 64 KB is billed as 64 KB. Cold Archive files have a minimum storage duration. If a file is overwritten or deleted after being stored for less than 180 days (4320 hours), you are charged for a 180-day (4320-hour) storage duration.
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Media storage pricing
Storage class (USD/GB/month) | Storage usage (GB) | The Chinese mainland | China (Hong Kong) | Singapore | Germany | US | Japan | Indonesia |
Standard LRS | 0 GB to 50 GB (inclusive) | Free | 0.02 | Free | Free | Free | Free | Free |
> 50 GB | 0.0173 | 0.02 | 0.02 | 0.02 | 0.02 | 0.0209 | 0.02 |
Standard ZRS
Note Storage plans are not supported | > 0 GB | 0.0185 | 0.022 | 0.022 | 0.022 | 0.022 | 0.022 | 0.022 |
Infrequent Access | 0.0126 | 0.0147 | 0.01575 | 0.0105 | 0.0105 | 0.0168 | 0.01575 |
Archive Storage | 0.005355 | 0.004725 | 0.004725 | 0.004305 | 0.004305 | 0.004725 | 0.004725 |
Cold Archive | 0.00231 | 0.0021 | 0.0021 | 0.00189 | 0.00189 | 0.0021 | 0.0021 |
Data retrieval
You can access Standard storage data in ApsaraVideo VOD at any time without incurring data retrieval fees. However, accessing Infrequent Access data incurs data retrieval fees. Data in Archive Storage and Cold Archive must be restored before it can be accessed, which also incurs data retrieval fees.
Billable item | Billing rule | Billing cycle and pricing | Billing method |
Data retrieval from Infrequent Access | Fees are incurred for accessing Infrequent Access files. You are charged based on the volume of retrieved data. | Billing Cycle: You are billed on an hourly basis. Fees are deducted in real time. A bill is typically generated 4 to 6 hours after a billing cycle ends. The actual time when the bill is generated is determined by the system. Pricing: For more information, see the data retrieval pricing table below.
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Data retrieval from Archive Storage | Fees are incurred for restoring Archive Storage files. You are charged based on the size of the restored file.
Note After a file is restored, no data retrieval fees are charged for accessing it before it is archived again. | |
Data retrieval from Cold Archive | Fees are incurred for restoring Cold Archive files. You are charged based on the restoration mode and the size of the file. After a file is restored, no data retrieval fees are charged for accessing it before it is archived again. The data retrieval fees for Cold Archive data vary based on the restoration priority. The following restoration priorities are available: Standard retrieval Expedited retrieval Bulk retrieval
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Data retrieval pricing
Data retrieval type (USD/GB) | The Chinese mainland | China (Hong Kong) | Singapore | Germany | US | Japan | Indonesia |
Data retrieval from Infrequent Access | 0.00525 | 0.0105 | 0.007875 | 0.007875 | 0.007875 | 0.007875 | 0.007875 |
Data retrieval from Archive Storage | 0.0105 | 0.0105 | 0.0105 | 0.0105 | 0.0105 | 0.0105 | 0.0105 |
Standard data retrieval from Cold Archive | 0.0105 | 0.0105 | 0.0105 | 0.0105 | 0.0105 | 0.0105 | 0.0105 |
Expedited data retrieval from Cold Archive | 0.0315 | 0.0315 | 0.0315 | 0.0315 | 0.0315 | 0.0315 | 0.0315 |
Bulk data retrieval from Cold Archive | 0.00525 | 0.00525 | 0.00525 | 0.00525 | 0.00525 | 0.00525 | 0.00525 |
Billing examples
In November 2022, a user stored 100 GB of Infrequent Access files in a bucket in the Singapore region. The stored data includes 10,000 files that are 30 KB in size. On November 20, the user downloaded a 1 GB file to a local device, updated the file content, and then re-uploaded the file to ApsaraVideo VOD. The size of the updated file is still 1 GB. No accelerated domain name is configured in ApsaraVideo VOD. The following table describes the fees.
Billable item | Description |
Data storage fees | 100.32 GB × USD 0.01575/GB/month + 1 GB × USD 0.01575/GB/month / 30 days × 10 days = USD 1.58529
Note The minimum billable size for an Infrequent Access file is 64 KB. A file smaller than 64 KB is billed as 64 KB. The actual size of 10,000 files of 30 KB is about 0.29 GB, but ApsaraVideo VOD bills for 0.61 GB. The actual storage usage is therefore calculated as 100.32 GB. The storage duration of the original 1 GB file that was updated is less than the minimum storage duration for Infrequent Access. Therefore, the fee is calculated based on the minimum storage duration of 30 days. The new 1 GB file is billed for 10 days of storage in the current month. |
Outbound traffic from storage fees | 1 GB × USD 0.08/GB = USD 0.08
Note The user has not configured an accelerated domain name in ApsaraVideo VOD. Outbound traffic from storage fees are incurred when downloading files from ApsaraVideo VOD. For more information, see Outbound traffic from storage billing. |
Data retrieval fees | 1 GB × USD 0.007875/GB = USD 0.007875 |
Total fees | 1.58529 + 0.08 + 0.007875 = USD 1.673165 |
Media transcoding billing
Audio and video transcoding includes regular video transcoding, audio transcoding, container format conversion, Narrowband HD 1.0, transcoding.
Audio and video transcoding
Note Narrowband HDTM 1.0 and Narrowband HDTM 2.0 are supported in all regions. For information about regions supported by ApsaraVideo VOD, see Service regions.
Transcoding fees are calculated based on the resolution, storage region, and duration of the media file, not the number of transcoding jobs.
Transcoding duration: The unit price for audio and video transcoding is specified per minute. However, transcoding is charged by the second and billed by the hour.
Animated images: The fees for producing animated images are included in video transcoding fees and are calculated based on the same billing standards.
Billable item | Billing description | Billing method |
Audio and video transcoding | Billing Rule: The total transcoding fee is the sum of the fees for transcoding into different formats within the billable scope. Billing Cycle: You are charged by the second and billed by the hour. Fees are deducted in real time. A bill is typically generated 4 to 6 hours after a billing cycle ends. The actual time when the bill is generated is determined by the system. Billing Specifications: The output specification is determined by the longer and shorter sides of the output video's resolution. For example, if the longer side of the output video is no more than 1280 pixels and the shorter side is no more than 720 pixels, the output specification is SD (1280 × 720) or lower. If the longer side is greater than 1280 pixels or the shorter side is greater than 720 pixels, the output specification is higher. Pricing: For more information, see the audio and video transcoding pricing tables below.
| Pay-as-you-go: Total transcoding fee for all formats. Fee for a single format = Output file duration (seconds) × Unit price for the format (USD/minute) ÷ 60 (seconds/minute) Resource Plans: ApsaraVideo VOD provides transcoding plans. For more information about pricing and usage, see Resource plans.
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Pricing and examples
Audio and video transcoding pricing: The pay-as-you-go prices are as follows.
Regular transcoding pricing (Unit: USD/minute)
Output encoding specification | Output resolution specification | The Chinese mainland | China (Hong Kong) | US (Silicon Valley) | Germany (Frankfurt) | Singapore | Japan (Tokyo) | Indonesia (Jakarta) | SAU (Riyadh - Partner Region) |
Video (H.264) | 4K (3840 × 2160) and lower | 0.0433 | 0.0500 | 0.0450 | 0.0450 | 0.0500 | 0.0500 | 0.0500 | 0.0600 |
2K (2560 × 1440) and lower | 0.0217 | 0.0375 | 0.0338 | 0.0338 | 0.0375 | 0.0375 | 0.0375 | 0.0450 |
HD (1920 × 1080) and lower | 0.0100 | 0.0250 | 0.0225 | 0.0225 | 0.0250 | 0.0250 | 0.0250 | 0.0300 |
SD (1280 × 720) and lower | 0.0050 | 0.0125 | 0.0113 | 0.0113 | 0.0125 | 0.0125 | 0.0125 | 0.0150 |
LD (640 × 480) and lower | 0.0034 | 0.0094 | 0.0084 | 0.0084 | 0.0094 | 0.0094 | 0.0094 | 0.0113 |
Video (H.265) | 4K (3840 × 2160) and lower | 0.2167 | 0.2500 | 0.2250 | 0.2250 | 0.2500 | 0.2500 | 0.2500 | 0.3000 |
2K (2560 × 1440) and lower | 0.1083 | 0.1875 | 0.1688 | 0.1688 | 0.1875 | 0.1875 | 0.1875 | 0.2250 |
HD (1920 × 1080) and lower | 0.0504 | 0.1250 | 0.1125 | 0.1125 | 0.1250 | 0.1250 | 0.1250 | 0.1500 |
SD (1280 × 720) and lower | 0.0252 | 0.0625 | 0.0563 | 0.0563 | 0.0625 | 0.0625 | 0.0625 | 0.0750 |
LD (640 × 480) and lower | 0.0168 | 0.0469 | 0.0422 | 0.0422 | 0.0469 | 0.0469 | 0.0469 | 0.0563 |
Audio transcoding | - | 0.0009 | 0.0031 | 0.0028 | 0.0028 | 0.0031 | 0.0031 | 0.0031 | 0.0037 |
Container format conversion | - | 0.0011 | 0.0021 | 0.0019 | 0.0019 | 0.0021 | 0.0021 | 0.0021 | 0.0025 |
Narrowband HDTM 1.0 transcoding pricing (Unit: USD/minute)
Output encoding specification | Output resolution specification | The Chinese mainland | China (Hong Kong) | US (Silicon Valley) | Germany (Frankfurt) | Singapore | Japan (Tokyo) | Indonesia (Jakarta) | SAU (Riyadh - Partner Region) |
Video (H.264) | 4K (3840 × 2160) and lower | 0.1300 | 0.1500 | 0.1350 | 0.1350 | 0.1500 | 0.1500 | 0.1500 | 0.1800 |
2K (2560 × 1440) and lower | 0.0650 | 0.1125 | 0.1014 | 0.1014 | 0.1125 | 0.1125 | 0.1125 | 0.1350 |
HD (1920 × 1080) and lower | 0.0300 | 0.0750 | 0.0675 | 0.0675 | 0.0750 | 0.0750 | 0.0750 | 0.0900 |
SD (1280 × 720) and lower | 0.0150 | 0.0375 | 0.0338 | 0.0338 | 0.0375 | 0.0375 | 0.0375 | 0.0450 |
LD (640 × 480) and lower | 0.0100 | 0.0282 | 0.0099 | 0.0099 | 0.0282 | 0.0282 | 0.0282 | 0.0338 |
Video (H.265) | 4K (3840 × 2160) and lower | 0.6500 | 0.7500 | 0.6750 | 0.6750 | 0.7500 | 0.7500 | 0.7500 | 0.9000 |
2K (2560 × 1440) and lower | 0.3250 | 0.5625 | 0.5063 | 0.5063 | 0.5625 | 0.5625 | 0.5625 | 0.6750 |
HD (1920 × 1080) and lower | 0.1510 | 0.3750 | 0.3375 | 0.3375 | 0.3750 | 0.3750 | 0.3750 | 0.4500 |
SD (1280 × 720) and lower | 0.0757 | 0.1875 | 0.1688 | 0.1688 | 0.1875 | 0.1875 | 0.1875 | 0.2250 |
LD (640 × 480) and lower | 0.504 | 0.1407 | 0.1266 | 0.1266 | 0.1407 | 0.1407 | 0.1407 | 0.1688 |
Narrowband HDTM 2.0 transcoding pricing (Unit: USD/minute)
Output encoding specification | Output resolution specification | The Chinese mainland | Singapore | SAU (Riyadh - Partner Region) |
Video (H.264) | 4K (3840 × 2160) and lower | 0.6212 | 0.7279 | 0.8735 |
2K (2560 × 1440) and lower | 0.3106 | 0.5459 | 0.6551 |
HD (1920 × 1080) and lower | 0.1444 | 0.3639 | 0.4367 |
SD (1280 × 720) and lower | 0.0722 | 0.1820 | 0.2184 |
LD (640 × 480) and lower | 0.0481 | 0.1365 | 0.1638 |
Video (H.265) | 4K (3840 × 2160) and lower | 0.9318 | 1.0919 | 1.3103 |
2K (2560 × 1440) and lower | 0.4659 | 0.8189 | 0.9827 |
HD (1920 × 1080) and lower | 0.2167 | 0.5459 | 0.6551 |
SD (1280 × 720) and lower | 0.1085 | 0.2733 | 0.3279 |
LD (640 × 480) and lower | 0.0722 | 0.2048 | 0.2457 |
Billing example: Assume that you perform transcoding in the Chinese mainland between 08:00 and 09:00 on a given day. You perform regular transcoding and Narrowband HD 1.0 transcoding on an H.264 video that is 200 minutes in duration. The output resolution of the regular transcoding is LD (640 × 480), and the output resolution of the Narrowband HD 1.0 transcoding is SD (1280 × 720). The transcoding fee for the period from 08:00 to 09:00 on that day is: 200 minutes × USD 0.0034/minute + 200 minutes × USD 0.015/minute = USD 3.68.
Billing for storage outbound traffic
Note This fee is incurred if an accelerated domain name is not configured in ApsaraVideo VOD. If you configure an accelerated domain name, you are charged CDN service fees instead. After you configure an accelerated domain name, the fees for downstream traffic can be offset by ApsaraVideo VOD data transfer plans.
Billable item | Description | Billing method |
Storage outbound traffic | Billing Rule: You are charged for the total traffic that is generated when video source files are downloaded directly from ApsaraVideo VOD storage addresses over the Internet without CDN acceleration. The unit price varies by storage region. Billing Cycle: Fees are calculated on an hourly basis and deducted in real time. Bills are typically generated after the current billing cycle ends. The actual time when a bill is generated is determined by the system. Price: For details about pricing, see the pricing tables for storage outbound traffic below.
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Pricing and examples
Storage Outbound Traffic Pricing: The following table describes the pay-as-you-go pricing.
Billable item (USD/GB) | Chinese mainland | China (Hong Kong) | Singapore | Germany | US | Japan | Indonesia |
Storage outbound traffic | 0.077 | 0.118 | 0.08 | 0.07 | 0.07 | 0.12 | 0.08 |
Billing Example: Assume that between 08:00 and 09:00 on a specific day, you download three video files from a source in the Chinese mainland region. The file sizes are 1.2 GB, 0.7 GB, and 0.5 GB. The storage outbound traffic fee is calculated as follows: (1.2 GB + 0.7 GB + 0.5 GB) × USD 0.077/GB = USD 0.185.
Acceleration service billing
Note These fees are incurred after you configure an accelerated domain name. Otherwise, you are charged for storage outbound traffic.
Billing method | Description | Payment method |
Pay-by-data-transfer
Note For the pay-by-data-transfer method, the default bandwidth cap is 10 Gbps to prevent losses from abnormal malicious traffic. To be billed by bandwidth, you can submit a ticket or contact business support to apply.
| Scenarios: The traffic curve shows significant fluctuations and bandwidth spikes, and the daily bandwidth utilization is less than 30%. Billing Rules: You are charged for traffic based on tiered pricing, with different tiers for the Chinese mainland and other regions. Usage is accumulated separately for each region within a calendar month. Traffic conversion is based on a factor of 1024. For example, 1 GB = 1024 MB. Billing Cycle: You are billed on an hourly basis, and fees are deducted in real time. Bills are generated 4 to 6 hours after a billing cycle ends. The actual bill generation time is determined by the system. Price: See the pay-by-data-transfer pricing tables below.
| Pay-as-you-go: Traffic fee for a single tier = Traffic in the pricing tier (GB) × Unit price for the tier in the region Resource Plan: Specifies an ApsaraVideo VOD data transfer plan. For more information about pricing and usage, see Resource plans.
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Prices and examples
Pay-by-data-transfer Pricing (USD): The following are the pay-as-you-go prices.
Data transfer tier (USD/GB) | Chinese mainland - CN | North America - NA | Europe - EU | Asia Pacific 1 - AP1 | Asia Pacific 2 - AP2 | Asia Pacific 3 - AP3 | Middle East and Africa - MEAA | South America - SA |
0 GB to 50 TB (inclusive) | 0.04 | 0.07 | 0.07 | 0.081 | 0.108 | 0.096 | 0.2 | 0.2 |
50 TB to 100 TB (inclusive) | 0.03 | 0.06 | 0.06 | 0.062 | 0.094 | 0.083 | 0.18 | 0.18 |
100 TB to 1 PB (inclusive) | 0.03 | 0.03 | 0.03 | 0.053 | 0.079 | 0.07 | 0.15 | 0.14 |
> 1 PB | 0.02 | 0.025 | 0.025 | 0.048 | 0.072 | 0.064 | 0.14 | 0.13 |
Example of pay-by-data-transfer billing (USD): For example, if you accumulate 102,410 GB of data transfer in the Chinese mainland region between 10:00 and 11:00, the fee is calculated as follows: (51,200 GB × USD 0.04/GB) + [(102,400 GB - 51,200 GB) × USD 0.03/GB] + [(102,410 GB - 102,400 GB) × USD 0.03/GB] = USD 3,584.3.