-->
Save your FREE seat for Streaming Media Connect this August. Register Now!

Bitmovin Intros AI-Powered Video Encoding That Learns Over Time

Article Featured Image

Artificial intelligence (AI) meets online video encoding thanks to an approach video infrastructure provider Bitmovin will introduce in the coming months. Rather than analyzing each piece of content prior to creating an encode, Bitmovin's system will learn and remember encoding parameters from previous encodes and start there. The result, the company says, will offer higher quality encoding in less time.

The Bitmovin AI system will make three passes over each video. In the first pass it runs a rapid analysis to determine the best settings as well as pre- and post-processing steps, all of which is informed by previous encodes. In the second pass, it looks at the video in more detail and fine-tunes the encode. Videos are divided into sections and analysis is run in parallel. Finally, a third pass applies the results of that analysis to the whole file and optimizes the bitrate.

“Encoding is at the heart of all video services. However, traditional methods do not process high-quality content such as ultra HD and High Dynamic Range quickly or well enough to deliver the kind of experiences consumers have come to expect," explains Christopher Mueller, CTO and co-founder at Bitmovin. "With AI Encoding, we are using a three-pass process that uses machine learning on the first pass to analyze the content upfront and reduce the amount of time dedicated to encoding. Since it keeps learning over time, encoding constantly improves. For operators, this means higher quality at the same bitrates, making it possible to offer UHD sports content or pristine movies on today’s infrastructure.”

Bitmovin will demonstrate AI-powered encoding for the first time at the NAB Show in Las Vegas, Nevada, in April.

Streaming Covers
Free
for qualified subscribers
Subscribe Now Current Issue Past Issues
Related Articles

Bitmovin's Free Tool Offers OTT Encoding Recommendations

Publishers are invited to test their content with a free online resource that shows the quality and bandwidth improvements of per-title encoding.

Bitmovin Survey: HLS Still Dominates, but DASH is on the Rise

Bitmovin surveyed respondents across the globe, finding the lowest DASH usage in the U.S. and the highest in APAC and LATAM.

Bitmovin Pushes AV1 Forward, Joins Alliance for Open Media

Bitmovin announced that it's adding AV1 to its VOD and live encoding service, and will demonstrate live AV1 encoding at NAB. It's still too early to assess whether AV1's performance claims are true, though.

Bitmovin Introduces Managed On-Prem Encoding Service

The flexible new service runs on the same software stack as Bitmovin's cloud encoding service

Companies and Suppliers Mentioned