Configuration

Transcoder configuration guide. Automatic configuration and manual settings.

This guide documents the legacy Jobs API (/jobs). Existing Jobs API integrations remain supported during the transition. For automatic file encoding, see the transcode guides.

Automatic Configuration

If you omit the transcoder type and quantity, Chunkify chooses them from the source video and target format. We recommend this automatic configuration unless you have specific requirements.

To adjust the balance between speed and cost, set the transcoder type and quantity yourself. Larger CPU configurations and more workers can speed up processing at a higher cost; smaller configurations can cost less but take longer.

If you're not familiar with Chunkify, video specs and codecs, we advise you to not tinker with these settings for now as it could lead to unoptimized costs and performances.

Trancoders Customization

Manual configuration requires both type and quantity parameters. You cannot specify one without the other.

Transcoder Type

The transcoder type selects its CPU configuration: 4 CPU, 8 CPU, or 16 CPU. The balance between speed and cost depends on the source video and output format.

Only the Pro and Enterprise plans support 16vCPU transcoders.

Transcoder Quantity

For a single job, you can specify the number of transcoders to use. However, there are two constraints that limit the maximum number of transcoders you can use:

Duration constraint - You cannot use more transcoders than the duration of the video in seconds divided by 30. This ensures each transcoder processes at least 30 seconds of video.
Plan CPU capacity constraint - The total CPU usage (number of transcoders × CPU per transcoder) cannot exceed your plan's maximum CPU capacity.

For example, for a 10-minute video (600 seconds) using 8vCPU :

Duration constraint: Allows up to 20 transcoders (600 ÷ 30 = 20)
Starter plan (128 CPU limit): Allows up to 16 transcoders (128 ÷ 8 = 16)

In this case, the CPU capacity constraint is the limiting factor, so you can use a maximum of 16 transcoders, not the 20 that the duration would allow.

Adding transcoders increases your team's CPU usage. If a job requires more CPU than is currently available, it will remain pending and start automatically once sufficient capacity becomes available.

Transcoder Settings Example

import Chunkify from '@chunkify/chunkify';

const client = new Chunkify({
    projectAccessToken: 'My Project Access Token',
});
    
// Transcode using mp4 format with av1 codec and 1080p resolution
// Using 4 transcoders of type 8vCPU.
const job = await client.jobs.create({
    source_id: source.id,
    format: { 
        id: 'mp4_av1',
        height: 1080,
    }
    transcoder: {
        type: '8vCPU',
        quantity: 4,
    }
});
from chunkify import Chunkify

client = Chunkify(
    project_access_token="My Project Access Token",
)

# Transcode using mp4 format with av1 codec and 1080p resolution
# Using 4 transcoders of type 8vCPU.
job = client.jobs.create(
    source_id=source.id,
    format={
        "id": "mp4_av1",
        "height": 1080,
    },
    transcoder={
        "type": "8vCPU",
        "quantity": 4,
    }
);
use Chunkify\Client;

$client = new Client(
    projectAccessToken: 'My Project Access Token',
);

// Transcode using mp4 format with av1 codec and 1080p resolution
// Using 4 transcoders of type 8vCPU.
$job = $client->jobs->create(
    format: ['id' => 'mp4_av1', 'height' => 1080],
    sourceID: $source->id,
    transcoder: ['quantity' => 4, 'type' => '8vCPU'],
);
import (
    "context"
    "github.com/chunkifydev/chunkify-go"
    "github.com/chunkifydev/chunkify-go/option"
)

client := chunkify.NewClient(
    option.WithProjectAccessToken("My Project Access Token"),
)

// Transcode using mp4 format with av1 codec and 1080p resolution
// Using 4 transcoders of type 8vCPU.
jobParams := chunkify.JobNewParams{
    SourceID: source.Id,
    Format: chunkify.JobNewParamsFormatUnion{
        OfMP4Av1: &chunkify.MP4Av1Param{
            Height: chunkify.Int(1080),
        },
    },    
    Transcoder: chunkify.JobNewParamsTranscoder{
            Type: "8vCPU",
            Quantity: chunkify.Int(4),
        },
},
    
job, err := client.Jobs.New(context.TODO(), jobParams)
if err != nil {
    t.Fatalf("Error creating job: %v", err)
}