Cloud video platform

What is a cloud video platform?

An end-to-end cloud video platform allows you to transcode, upload, host, deliver, stream, and analyze video content — all within the cloud. “The cloud” is servers, software and databases that are accessed over the Internet. Popular platforms include Vimeo, Amazon Prime, and Netflix. A cloud video platform is different from just a video platform because it makes use of the cloud to handle most or all of the services it provides.

What is “the cloud?”

The cloud lets people access content from almost any device, because the content isn’t stored locally. Instead, with a cloud video platform, video is stored in servers on data centers located all over the world. Cloud computing uses virtualization to create multiple simulations of a physical computer. One server can contain many virtual machines, each separate and private from the others around it. With this kind of setup, data can be replicated and served to customers anywhere. Separate companies can have their information stored individually. If a server goes down, content can still be made available to customers by falling back to other virtual machines that contain the same content. Part of how “the cloud” is set up is designed to make it available 24-7.

How does “the cloud” work in a cloud video platform?

The cloud is perfect for video platforms, because it makes the video platform’s services available 24-7. You can watch movies on Netflix any time of day. If you’re building your own video project, you can use api.video’s API at any time of day. It also works well, because companies serving video can use powerful computers that can store, process and deliver video more effectively than if they had to store video content locally.

What’s in a video platform?

Different video platforms offer different types of services. For example, you sign in to Amazon Prime Video to watch movies. The platform allows you to browse and watch content. Another type of platform, like what api.video offers, provides you with what you need to build your own video service. You can learn more about what goes into a video platform in our other glossary post What is a video platform?.

Cloud video and api.video

api.video is proud to use the cloud as part of its private, video focused Content Delivery Network (CDN). By using the cloud, api.video is able to offer blazing fast transcoding and delivery. Everything is transcoded to HLS, so you and your customers always receive the video quality that is the best and most efficient for the devices you are streaming to.