The basic services of ApsaraVideo VOD include media 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. This topic describes the billing rules for each billable item and provides billing examples.
Billable items
Note The prices described in this topic are for reference only. If the prices differ from the prices that are displayed on the pricing page, the prices on the pricing page prevail. For more information, visit the ApsaraVideo VOD pricing page.
Basic service | Description |
Media storage | You are charged when you upload media files to the ApsaraVideo VOD by using the upload service. |
Media transcoding | You are charged for each regular transcoding job and Narrowband HD transcoding job that you created for media files that are stored in ApsaraVideo VOD. Transcoding fees vary based on the specification and duration of each output file and the region where your media files are stored. You are not charged for failed transcoding jobs. |
Outbound traffic | If Alibaba Cloud CDN is not used for acceleration, you are charged for the outbound traffic that is generated when you download or play videos from ApsaraVideo VOD over the Internet. |
Acceleration | When you play videos, you are charged for acceleration if Alibaba Cloud CDN is used. |
For example, if you upload a media file to ApsaraVideo VOD, transcode the media file, configure an accelerated domain name, and then play the media file, you are charged for media storage, media transcoding, and acceleration.
Media storage
Data storage
ApsaraVideo VOD provides storage for media files. You are charged based on the space that you use to store media files and the storage duration. Unit prices vary based on the region where media files are stored.
Note Tiered storage is supported only in the China (Shanghai), China (Beijing), China (Shenzhen), and Singapore regions. You can store media files as Infrequent Access (IA), Archive, or Cold Archive objects in ApsaraVideo VOD. You can also modify the storage class of media files.
Billable item | Billing rule | Billing cycle and pricing | Billing method |
Storage usage of Standard objects | You are charged based on the total sizes and storage durations of Standard objects. Unit prices vary based on the region where media files are stored. | Billing cycle: You are charged on an hourly basis. The fees are automatically deducted from the balance of your Alibaba Cloud account. Bills are generated 4 to 6 hours after a billing cycle ends. The time when bills are generated is determined by the system. Pricing: For more information, see the following table.
| Pay-as-you-go: Storage fees per hour = Storage usage (GB) × Unit price per month/30 (days)/24 (hours).
Note A month is considered 30 days. Resource plans: For more information about the storage plans of ApsaraVideo VOD and pricing, see Resource plans.
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Storage usage of IA objects | You are charged based on the total sizes and storage durations of IA objects. Unit prices vary based on the region where media files are stored.
Important For IA storage, the minimum billable size for each object is 64 KB. IA storage has the minimum billable size of 64 KB for each object. IA ZRS objects have a minimum storage duration. If an IA LRS object is overwritten or deleted after it is stored for less than 30 days (720 hours), you are charged for the 30 days (720 hours).
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Storage usage of Archive objects | You are charged based on the total sizes and storage durations of Archive objects. Unit prices vary based on the region where media files are stored.
Important For Archive storage, the minimum billable size for each object is 64 KB. Archive has the minimum billable size of 64 KB for each object. Archive ZRS objects have a minimum storage duration. If an Archive LRS object is overwritten or deleted after it is stored for less than 60 days (1,440 hours), you are charged for 60 days (1,440 hours).
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Storage usage of Cold Archive objects | You are charged based on the total sizes and storage durations of Cold Archive objects. Unit prices vary based on the region where media files are stored.
Important For Cold Archive storage, the minimum billable size for each object is 64 KB. Cold Archive has the minimum billable size of 64 KB for each object. Cold Archive objects have a minimum storage duration. If a Cold Archive object is overwritten or deleted when it is stored for less than 180 days (4,320 hours), you are charged for180 days (4,320 hours).
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Media storage pricing (USD/GB/month)
Storage class (USD/GB/month) | Storage space | Chinese mainland | China (Hong Kong) | Singapore | Germany (Frankfurt) | US (Silicon Valley) | Japan (Tokyo) | Indonesia (Jakarta) |
Standard LRS | ≤ 50 GB | 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 |
IA | 0.0126 | 0.0147 | 0.01575 | 0.0105 | 0.0105 | 0.0168 | 0.01575 |
Archive | 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 media resources stored as Standard objects in ApsaraVideo VOD any time without incurring data retrieval fees. However, if you access IA, Archive, or Cold Archive objects, you are charged data retrieval fees. Archive and Cold Archive objects must be restored before you can access these objects.
Billable item | Billing rule | Billing cycle and pricing | Billing method |
Data retrieval of IA objects | When you access IA objects, you are charged data retrieval fees based on the size of retrieved IA data. You are charged data retrieval fees based on the size of retrieved IA objects. | Billing cycle: You are charged on an hourly basis. The fees are automatically deducted from the balance of your Alibaba Cloud account. Bills are generated 4 to 6 hours after a billing cycle ends. The time when bills are generated is determined by the system. Pricing: For more information, see the following table.
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Data retrieval of Archive objects | When you access Archive objects, you need to restore them. You are charged data retrieval fees based on the size of the restored Archive objects.
Note You are not charged object restoration fees for access to an Archive object that is in the restored state. | |
Data retrieval of Cold Archive objects | When you restore Cold Archive objects, you are charged data retrieval fees based on the corresponding restore priority and the size of the restored data. You are not charged object restoration fees for access to a Cold Archive object that is in the restored state. You are charged based on one of the following restore priorities for Cold Archive objects: | |
Data retrieval pricing (USD/GB)
Data retrieval type (USD/GB) | Chinese mainland | China (Hong Kong) | Singapore | Germany (Frankfurt) | US (Silicon Valley) | Japan (Tokyo) | Indonesia (Jakarta) |
Data retrieval of IA objects | 0.00525 | 0.0105 | 0.007875 | 0.007875 | 0.007875 | 0.007875 | 0.007875 |
Data retrieval of Archive objects | 0.0105 | 0.0105 | 0.0105 | 0.0105 | 0.0105 | 0.0105 | 0.0105 |
Data retrieval of Cold Archive objects based on the standard priority | 0.0105 | 0.0105 | 0.0105 | 0.0105 | 0.0105 | 0.0105 | 0.0105 |
Data retrieval of Cold Archive objects based on the expedited priority | 0.0315 | 0.0315 | 0.0315 | 0.0315 | 0.0315 | 0.0315 | 0.0315 |
Data retrieval of Cold Archive objects based on the bulk priority | 0.00525 | 0.00525 | 0.00525 | 0.00525 | 0.00525 | 0.00525 | 0.00525 |
Billing example
On November 1, 2022, Steve stored 100 GB of IA objects, including 10,000 30 KB files, in ApsaraVideo VOD in the Singapore region. On November 20, 2022, Steve downloaded a 1 GB file to a local device, updated the file content, and then uploaded the file to ApsaraVideo VOD. The size of the updated file is still 1 GB and no accelerated domain name is configured in ApsaraVideo VOD. The following table describes the billable items.
Billable item | Description |
Data storage | 100.32 × 0.01575 +1 × 0.01575/30 × 10=USD 1.58529
Note The minimum billable size for each IA object is 64 KB. Objects that are smaller than 64 KB are charged as 64 KB. Therefore, Steve is charged for 0.61 GB data when the actual total size of 10,000 files is about 0.29 GB. In this case, Steve is charged for 100.32 GB data storage. The storage duration of the original file of 1 GB is less than the minimum storage duration of IA access, you are charged based on the minimum storage duration of 30 days. You are charged for the updated file of 1 GB for 10 days in the month. |
Outbound traffic | 1 × 0.08 = USD 0.08
Note Outbound traffic fees are generated when Steve download files from ApsaraVideo VOD and no accelerated domain name is configured in ApsaraVideo VOD. For more information about billing of outbound traffic, see Outbound traffic. |
Data retrieval | 1 × 0.007875 = USD 0.007875 |
Total fee | 1.58529 + 0.08 + 0.007875 = USD 1.673165 |
Media transcoding
Regular transcoding, audio transcoding, container format conversion, and Narrowband HD 1.0 transcoding are supported.
Audio and video transcoding
Note Narrowband HDTM 1.0 and 2.0 are supported in all regions. For information about regions supported by ApsaraVideo VOD, see Regions.
The transcoding fee is calculated based on the resolution, storage region, and duration of the media file. You are charged based on the pay-as-you-go billing method instead of the number of transcoding times.
The unit price of media transcoding is set based on minutes. However, you are charged every second for transcoding media files and billed hourly.
You are charged for frame animation based on the same billing standards as video transcoding. The fee for frame animation is added to your bill for transcoding.
Billable item | Description | Billing method |
Audio and video transcoding | Billing rule: You are charged for the total cost of transcoding videos to different specifications. Billing cycle: You are charged every second and billed on an hourly basis. The fees are automatically deducted from the balance of your Alibaba Cloud account. Bills are generated 4 to 6 hours after a billing cycle ends. The time when bills are generated is determined by the system. Billing specifications: The resolution of an output video is determined by the width and height of the video. For example, if the height of a video does not exceed 1,280 pixels and the width does not exceed 720 pixels, the video resolution is SD (1280 × 720) or lower. If the height of a video is greater than 1280 pixels or the width is greater than 720 pixels, the resolution of the video is higher. Pricing: For more information, see the following table.
| Pay-as-you-go: Video transcoding fee for a specification = Output video duration (seconds) × Unit price (USD per minute)/60. Resource plans: For more information about transcoding plans of ApsaraVideo VOD and the pricing, see Resource plans.
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Pricing and examples
Media transcoding pricing: The pricing for media transcoding is described in the following tables.
Regular transcoding (USD per minute)
Output specification | Output resolution | Chinese mainland | China (Hong Kong) | US (Silicon Valley) | Germany (Frankfurt) | Singapore | Japan (Tokyo) | Indonesia (Jakarta) | SAU (Riyadh - Partner Region) |
H.264 | ≤ 4K (3840 × 2160) | 0.0427 | 0.0450 | 0.0450 | 0.0450 | 0.0500 | 0.0500 | 0.0500 | 0.0600 |
≤ 2K (2560 × 1440) | 0.0213 | 0.0338 | 0.0338 | 0.0338 | 0.0375 | 0.0375 | 0.0375 | 0.0450 |
≤ HD (1920 × 1080) | 0.0099 | 0.0225 | 0.0225 | 0.0225 | 0.0250 | 0.0250 | 0.0250 | 0.0300 |
≤ SD (1280 × 720) | 0.0050 | 0.0113 | 0.0113 | 0.0113 | 0.0125 | 0.0125 | 0.0125 | 0.0150 |
≤ LD (640 × 480) | 0.0033 | 0.0033 | 0.0033 | 0.0033 | 0.0094 | 0.0094 | 0.0094 | 0.0113 |
H.265 video | ≤ 4K (3840 × 2160) | 0.2134 | 0.2250 | 0.2250 | 0.2250 | 0.2500 | 0.2500 | 0.2500 | 0.3000 |
≤ 2K (2560 × 1440) | 0.1083 | 0.1688 | 0.1688 | 0.1688 | 0.1875 | 0.1875 | 0.1875 | 0.2250 |
≤ HD (1920 × 1080) | 0.0496 | 0.1125 | 0.1125 | 0.1125 | 0.1250 | 0.1250 | 0.1250 | 0.1500 |
≤ SD (1280 × 720) | 0.0248 | 0.0563 | 0.0563 | 0.0563 | 0.0625 | 0.0625 | 0.0625 | 0.0750 |
≤ LD (640 × 480) | 0.0165 | 0.0422 | 0.0422 | 0.0422 | 0.0469 | 0.0469 | 0.0469 | 0.0563 |
Audio transcoding | - | 0.0009 | 0.0028 | 0.0028 | 0.0028 | 0.0031 | 0.0031 | 0.0031 | 0.0037 |
Container format conversion | - | 0.0011 | 0.0019 | 0.0019 | 0.0019 | 0.0021 | 0.0021 | 0.0021 | 0.0025 |
Narrowband HDTM 1.0 transcoding (USD per minute)
Output specification | Output resolution | Chinese mainland | China (Hong Kong) | US (Silicon Valley) | Germany (Frankfurt) | Singapore | Japan (Tokyo) | Indonesia (Jakarta) | SAU (Riyadh - Partner Region) |
H.264 | ≤ 4K (3840 × 2160) | 0.1281 | 0.1350 | 0.1350 | 0.1350 | 0.1500 | 0.1500 | 0.1500 | 0.1800 |
≤ 2K (2560 × 1440) | 0.0639 | 0.1014 | 0.1014 | 0.1014 | 0.1125 | 0.1125 | 0.1125 | 0.1350 |
≤ HD (1920 × 1080) | 0.0297 | 0.0675 | 0.0675 | 0.0675 | 0.0750 | 0.0750 | 0.0750 | 0.0900 |
≤ SD (1280 × 720) | 0.0150 | 0.0339 | 0.0339 | 0.0339 | 0.0375 | 0.0375 | 0.0375 | 0.0450 |
≤ LD (640 × 480) | 0.0099 | 0.0099 | 0.0099 | 0.0099 | 0.0282 | 0.0282 | 0.0282 | 0.0338 |
H.265 video | ≤ 4K (3840 × 2160) | 0.6402 | 0.6750 | 0.6750 | 0.6750 | 0.7500 | 0.7500 | 0.7500 | 0.9000 |
≤ 2K (2560 × 1440) | 0.3249 | 0.5064 | 0.5064 | 0.5064 | 0.5625 | 0.5625 | 0.5625 | 0.6750 |
≤ HD (1920 × 1080) | 0.1488 | 0.3375 | 0.3375 | 0.3375 | 0.3750 | 0.3750 | 0.3750 | 0.4500 |
≤ SD (1280 × 720) | 0.0744 | 0.1689 | 0.1689 | 0.1689 | 0.1875 | 0.1875 | 0.1875 | 0.2250 |
≤ LD (640 × 480) | 0.0495 | 0.1266 | 0.1266 | 0.1266 | 0.1407 | 0.1407 | 0.1407 | 0.1688 |
Narrowband HDTM 2.0 transcoding (USD per minute)
Output specification | Output resolution | Chinese mainland | Singapore | SAU (Riyadh - Partner Region) |
H.264 | ≤ 4K (3840 × 2160) | 0.6212 | 0.7279 | 0.8735 |
≤ 2K (2560 × 1440) | 0.3106 | 0.5459 | 0.6551 |
≤ HD (1920 × 1080) | 0.1444 | 0.3639 | 0.4367 |
≤ SD (1280 × 720) | 0.0722 | 0.1820 | 0.2184 |
≤ LD (640 × 480) | 0.0481 | 0.1365 | 0.1638 |
H.265 video | ≤ 4K (3840 × 2160) | 0.9318 | 1.0919 | 1.3103 |
≤ 2K (2560 × 1440) | 0.4659 | 0.8189 | 0.9827 |
≤ HD (1920 × 1080) | 0.2167 | 0.5459 | 0.6551 |
≤ SD (1280 × 720) | 0.1085 | 0.2733 | 0.3279 |
≤ LD (640 × 480) | 0.0722 | 0.2048 | 0.2457 |
Billing example: If you use regular transcoding to transcode a 200-minute H.264 video to an LD video and use Narrowband HD 1.0 transcoding to transcode the same video to an SD video from 08:00 to 09:00 in the Chinese mainland, the transcoding fee for the billing cycle from 08:00:00 to 09:00:00 on the day is calculated by using the following formula: 200 × 0.0033 + 200 × 0.015 = USD 3.66.
Outbound traffic
Note After you add an accelerated domain name to ApsaraVideo VOD, you are charged for acceleration, and you can use data transfer plans to offset the outbound traffic. For more information, see Acceleration of basic services.
Billable item | Description | Billing method |
Outbound traffic | Billing rule: You are charged for the cumulative traffic that is generated when you download video files from ApsaraVideo VOD over the Internet without Alibaba Cloud CDN in different regions. Billing cycle: You are charged on an hourly basis. The fees are automatically deducted from the balance of your Alibaba Cloud account. Bills are generated after a billing cycle ends. The time when bills are generated is determined by the system. Pricing: For more information, see the following table.
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Pricing and examples
Pay-as-you-go: The pricing for outbound traffic is described in the following table. Unit: USD/GB.
Billable item (USD/GB) | Chinese mainland | China (Hong Kong) | Singapore | Germany (Frankfurt) | US (Silicon Valley) | Japan (Tokyo) | Indonesia (Jakarta) |
Outbound traffic | 0.077 | 0.118 | 0.08 | 0.07 | 0.07 | 0.12 | 0.08 |
Billing example: If you download 3 video files whose sizes are 1.2 GB, 0.7 GB, and 0.5 GB from URLs in the Chinese mainland during 08:00 to 09:00, the outbound traffic fee for the billing cycle from 08:00 to 09:00 is calculated by using the following formula: (1.2 + 0.7 + 0.5) × 0.077 = USD 0.185.
Acceleration
Note After you add a domain name to accelerate, you are charged for acceleration. If you do not add domain names, you are charged for outbound traffic. For more information, see Billing of basic services.
Billable item | Description | Billing method |
Data transfer
Note To protect users from losses due to malicious traffic, the default maximum bandwidth for the pay-by-data-transfer metering method is 10 Gbit/s. If you want to use the pay-by-bandwidth metering method, submit a ticket or contact your account manager.
| Scenario: The pay-by-data-transfer metering method is suitable for services that experience traffic fluctuations and bandwidth peaks and have a daily bandwidth utilization lower than 30%. Billing rule: You are charged based on tiered pricing for the amount of network traffic generated inside and outside the Chinese mainland. The tiers are reset at the beginning of each calendar month. The conversion scale for traffic is 1,024. For example, 1 GB equals 1,024 MB. Billing cycle: You are charged on an hourly basis. The fees are automatically deducted from the balance of your Alibaba Cloud account. Bills are generated 4 to 6 hours after a billing cycle ends. The time when bills are generated is determined by the system. Pricing: For more information, see the following table.
| Pay-as-you-go: Traffic fee of a tier = Traffic within the tier (GB) × Unit price. Resource plans: For more information about the data transfer plans of ApsaraVideo VOD and the pricing, see Resource plans.
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Pricing and examples
Pay-by-data-transfer pricing: The pricing for acceleration is described in the following table. Unit: USD/GB.
Traffic tier (USD/GB) | Chinese mainland | North America | Europe | Asia Pacific 1 | Asia Pacific 2 | Asia Pacific 3 | Middle East and Africa | South America |
[0 GB, 50 TB] | 0.04 | 0.07 | 0.07 | 0.081 | 0.108 | 0.096 | 0.2 | 0.2 |
50 (50 TB, 100 TB] | 0.03 | 0.06 | 0.06 | 0.062 | 0.094 | 0.083 | 0.18 | 0.18 |
100 (100 TB, 1 PB] | 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 |
Billing example: If traffic of 102,410 GB is consumed in the Chinese mainland from 10:00 to 11:00 on a day, the traffic fee for the billing cycle from 10:00 to 11:00 is calculated based on the following formula: 51,200 × 0.04 + (102,400 - 51,200) × 0.03 + (102,410 - 102,400) × 0.03 = USD 3,584.3.