Cloud Streaming Services (CSS) offers Standard Transcoding, Top Speed Codec Transcoding (TSC Transcoding), and Audio Transcoding services to cater to different needs in live streaming scenarios.They are billed according to the transcoding duration, and unit cost varies with the codec used and the output resolution. If you have enabled the add watermarks, mix streams, Live subtitles or Dynamic Overlays features, Standard transcoding fees may be incurred (the resolution of the output stream is used for billing). TSC transcoding uses dynamic encoding technologies and a high-precision bitrate control model to generate HD videos at lower bitrates, which is useful if your live stream has a high bitrate and complex video images.
Must-Knows
Billing mode: Pay-as-you-go.
Billing cycle: Daily billing cycle. The transcoding fees generated each day will be deducted from your account the following day (the actual fee deduction and bill generation time may vary).
Standard transcoding packages can deduct your usage of standard transcoding and audio transcoding in the daily billing mode. For details, see Standard Transcoding Packages. You can purchase Prepaid TSC Transcoding Packages to offset the daily transcoding fees generated by using the Top Speed Codec Transcoding (TSC Transcoding) service in live streaming. For more details, please refer to TSC Transcoding Packages. Transcoding duration will be rounded up to the nearest minute for billing.
No transcoding fees will be incurred if you don't use the transcoding feature.
If a stream is used for LVB and LEB simultaneously, due to the fact that LVB and LEB typically require different transcoding settings, two transcoding streams will be generated.
Adaptive bitrate streaming is a value-added service of CSS. Using it will incur standard transcoding fees.
Live subtitles utilize the speech recognition、speech translation and AI dubbing capabilities of Media Processing Service (MPS), which will incur corresponding media processing fees. Please ensure that the MPS service is in normal use. Situations such as account arrears may result in the inability to provide live subtitle functionality. The CSS stream mix API offers stream mix matting capabilities. Using the stream mix matting feature will incur stream mix matting fees. The Dynamic Overlays feature is currently in the internal testing phase and only charges transcoding fees. It is expected that Dynamic Overlays fees will be charged starting in the second half of 2025.
Standard Transcoding
Pricing
|
H.264 | 480p | 0.0028 | Long side ≤ 640 and short side ≤ 480 |
| 720p | 0.0057 | Long side ≤ 1280 and short side ≤ 720 |
| 1080p | 0.0111 | Long side ≤ 1936 and short side ≤ 1088 |
| 2K | 0.024 | Long side ≤ 2560 and short side ≤ 1440 |
| 4K | 0.0491 | Long side > 2560 or short side > 1440 |
H.265 | 480p | 0.0141 | Long side ≤ 640 and short side ≤ 480 |
| 720p | 0.0275 | Long side ≤ 1280 and short side ≤ 720 |
| 1080p | 0.0549 | Long side ≤ 1936 and short side ≤ 1088 |
| 2K | 0.1183 | Long side ≤ 2560 and short side ≤ 1440 |
| 4K | 0.2366 | Long side ≤ 4096 and short side ≤ 2160 |
| 8K | 0.8642 | Long side > 4096 or short side > 2160 |
H.266 | 480p | 0.0339 | Long side ≤ 640 and short side ≤ 480 |
| 720p | 0.0660 | Long side ≤ 1280 and short side ≤ 720 |
| 1080p | 0.1317 | Long side ≤ 1936 and short side ≤ 1088 |
| 2K | 0.2837 | Long side ≤ 2560 and short side ≤ 1440 |
| 4K | 0.5674 | Long side ≤ 4096 and short side ≤ 2160 |
| 8K | 2.0741 | Long side > 4096 or short side > 2160 |
AV1 | 480p | 0.0282 | Long side ≤ 640 and short side ≤ 480 |
| 720p | 0.0550 | Long side ≤ 1280 and short side ≤ 720 |
| 1080p | 0.1098 | Long side ≤ 1936 and short side ≤ 1088 |
| 2K | 0.2366 | Long side ≤ 2560 and short side ≤ 1440 |
| 4K | 0.4732 | Long side ≤ 4096 and short side ≤ 2160 |
| 8K | 1.7284 | Long side > 4096 or short side > 2160 |
Note:
For instance, when the encoding format is H.264, with the long side measuring 853 and the short side measuring 480, it is denoted as 720P; when the encoding format is H.265, with the long side measuring 4,096 and the short side measuring 2,560, it is denoted as 8K. The designation of the long and short sides does not strictly adhere to width and height measurements. The side with a larger value will be defined as the long side.
Billing details
Billable item: The transcoding duration (or the duration of stream mixing or the watermarked live stream).
Billing rules:
Your transcoding durations in a natural day are multiplied by their respective unit prices (determined by the codec used and resolution of the output video) to determine the fee.
Standard transcoding incurs fees only if transcoded streams are played. However, watermarking incurs fees when watermarked streams are published, and stream mixing incurs fees when a stream mixing signal is generated. That is to say, with watermarking and stream mixing, standard transcoding fees may be incurred even if the stream is not played.
Billing formula
Standard transcoding fee = Transcoding duration x Unit price (determined by the codec and output resolution)
Billing examples
Suppose on January 1, 2021, you used CSS to watermark and transcode stream A (720p, one hour long) to H.264_480P. You also transcoded stream B (30 minutes long) to H.264_1080P. On January 2, 2021, the transcoding fees billed would be as follows:
Transcoding fee for stream A (H.264_480P) = 0.0028 (USD/min) x 60 (min) = 0.168 USD
Watermarking fee for stream A (H264_720P) = 0.0057 (USD/min) x 60 (min) = 0.342 USD
Transcoding fee for stream B (H264_1080P) = 0.0111 (USD/min) x 30 (min) = 0.333 USD
TSC Transcoding
Pricing
|
H.264 | 480p | 0.0116 | Long side ≤ 640 and short side ≤ 480 |
| 720p | 0.0222 | Long side ≤ 1280 and short side ≤ 720 |
| 1080p | 0.0443 | Long side ≤ 1936 and short side ≤ 1088 |
| 2K | 0.0886 | Long side ≤ 2560 and short side ≤ 1440 |
| 4K | 0.1772 | Long side > 2560 or short side > 1440 |
H.265 | 480p | 0.0349 | Long side ≤ 640 and short side ≤ 480 |
| 720p | 0.0665 | Long side ≤ 1280 and short side ≤ 720 |
| 1080p | 0.1329 | Long side ≤ 1936 and short side ≤ 1088 |
| 2K | 0.2659 | Long side ≤ 2560 and short side ≤ 1440 |
| 4K | 0.5317 | Long side ≤ 4096 and short side ≤ 2160 |
| 8K | 1.7284 | Long side > 4096 or short side > 2160 |
H.266 | 480p | 0.0838 | Long side ≤ 640 and short side ≤ 480 |
| 720p | 0.1595 | Long side ≤ 1280 and short side ≤ 720 |
| 1080p | 0.3189 | Long side ≤ 1936 and short side ≤ 1088 |
| 2K | 0.6377 | Long side ≤ 2560 and short side ≤ 1440 |
| 4K | 1.2754 | Long side ≤ 4096 and short side ≤ 2160 |
| 8K | 4.1481 | Long side > 4096 or short side > 2160 |
AV1 | 480p | 0.0698 | Long side ≤ 640 and short side ≤ 480 |
| 720p | 0.1330 | Long side ≤ 1280 and short side ≤ 720 |
| 1080p | 0.2658 | Long side ≤ 1936 and short side ≤ 1088 |
| 2K | 0.5318 | Long side ≤ 2560 and short side ≤ 1440 |
| 4K | 1.0634 | Long side ≤ 4096 and short side ≤ 2160 |
| 8K | 3.4568 | Long side > 4096 or short side > 2160 |
Billing details
Billing rules: Your TSC transcoding durations in a natural day are multiplied by their respective unit prices (determined by the resolution of the output video) to determine the fee.
Billing formula
TSC transcoding fee = Transcoding duration x Unit price (determined by the output resolution)
Billing examples
Suppose on January 1, 2021, you used the TSC transcoding service to transcode stream A (one hour long) to 720p and transcode stream B (30 minutes long) to 480p. On January 2, 2021, the TSC transcoding fee billed would be as follows:
0.0222 (USD/min) x 60 (min) + 0.0116 (USD/min) x 30 (min) = 1.68 USD
Note:
If you have a large-scale live streaming business, then a daily billing mode may not meet your needs. Please contact the Tencent Cloud sales team or submit a ticket for other billing options. Audio Transcoding
The audio transcoding capability of CSS allows you to transcode audio to multiple bitrates to meet different business needs. It's a useful and reliable feature that can spare you the trouble of adapting your audio content and reduce your labor and hardware costs.
Pricing
|
| Audio transcoding duration | 0.00099 USD/min |
Billing details
Billable item: The audio transcoding duration.
Billing rules: Your audio transcoding duration in a natural day is multiplied by the unit price to determine the fee.
Billing formula
Audio transcoding fees = Unit price x Transcoding duration.
Billing examples
Suppose you used the audio transcoding service on December 1, 2021. The transcoding duration was five hours. On December 2, 2021, the audio transcoding fee billed would be as follows:
0.00099 (USD/min) x 300 (min) = 0.297 USD
Note:
If your billing mode for transcoding is daily pay-as-you-go, you can buy standard transcoding packages to deduct your audio transcoding duration. New billing rules for audio transcoding took effect on February 1, 2021. Starting from February 2, 2021, bills will be generated according to the rules described in this document.
On web, streams are published using the WebRTC protocol, and the audio codec used is Opus. If you play such streams using RTMP, FLV, or HLS, CSS will automatically convert the audio to AAC, which will incur audio transcoding fees. Note:
If you have a large-scale live streaming business, then a daily billing mode may not meet your needs. Please contact the Tencent Cloud sales team or submit a ticket for other billing options.