5 November 2026

Improved URL validation

Validation of URLs in jobs and watch folders has been improved. Some URLs that were accepted before may now be rejected when a job or watch folder is saved, or a transfer may fail with "Unable to connect to ". If a URL that worked before is now rejected, please contact support.

Encode all source audio streams

copy_audio_streams option now works with audio encoding for mp4 output: every source audio stream is encoded to its own output stream with the output audio settings, keeping its language and title.

audio_channels_number and audio_sample_rate accept copy for mp4 and mov outputs to keep the channel count and sample rate of each source audio stream where possible. A sample rate the output audio codec doesn't support is converted to the closest supported one.

A Dolby E source stream is encoded to one output stream per Dolby E program.

New audio_bitrate_per_channel option sets the bitrate of each audio stream by its channels number, audio_bitrate is the minimum. With the example below mono and stereo streams get 256k, 5.1 gets 384k and 7.1 gets 512k.

With copy channels, a source audio stream with more channels than the audio codec supports (e.g. 8 for AAC) is downmixed if its channel layout is known. With copy_audio_streams, a source audio stream with more than 2 channels without a channel layout is encoded as separate mono streams, up to 20 streams, the rest of the channels is dropped. Without copy_audio_streams, a source audio stream with more channels than the audio codec supports and without a channel layout fails the format.

<format>
    <output>mp4</output>
    <audio_codec>aac</audio_codec>
    <audio_bitrate>256k</audio_bitrate>
    <audio_bitrate_per_channel>64k</audio_bitrate_per_channel>
    <audio_sample_rate>48000</audio_sample_rate>
    <audio_channels_number>copy</audio_channels_number>
    <copy_audio_streams>all</copy_audio_streams>
</format>

{
    "output": "mp4",
    "audio_codec": "aac",
    "audio_bitrate": "256k",
    "audio_bitrate_per_channel": "64k",
    "audio_sample_rate": "48000",
    "audio_channels_number": "copy",
    "copy_audio_streams": "all"
}

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Note

Encoding with copy_audio_streams, the copy value of audio_channels_number / audio_sample_rate and audio_bitrate_per_channel are not available with Dolby audio codecs and audio_encoder dee. copy_audio_streams with audio encoding can't be combined with audio, audio_stream or pan parameters that work with individual audio streams.

Crop VBI lines of SD sources

New crop_vbi cropping parameter removes the top 32 lines of vertical blanking (VBI) from 720x608 and 720x512 sources: the picture becomes 720x576 and 720x480. Sources of other sizes are not changed, so the parameter can be set for any job.

The source aspect ratio applies to the cropped picture: the 720x576 picture of a 720x608 4:3 source is shown at 4:3. Output size, keep_aspect_ratio, crop_top and the other crop parameters, auto_crop, cut_black and thumbnails work with the cropped picture. Without size, the output is the size of the cropped picture and the picture is fitted into it as usual: for example, mp4 output is 720x576 with square pixels and the 4:3 picture letterboxed.

<?xml version="1.0"?>
<query>
    <userid>[UserID]</userid> <!-- required -->
    <userkey>[UserKey]</userkey> <!-- required -->
    <action>[Action]</action> <!-- required -->
    <source>[SourceFile]</source> <!-- required -->
    <format>
        <output>[OutputFormat]</output> <!-- required-->
        <size>[Size]</size>
        <crop_vbi>[yes|no]</crop_vbi>
    </format>
</query>

{
  "query": {
    "userid": "[UserID]", // required
    "userkey": "[UserKey]", // required
    "action": "[Action]", // required
    "source": "[SourceFile]", // required
    "format": {
      "output": "[OutputFormat]", // required
      "size": "[Size]",
      "crop_vbi": "[yes|no]"
    }
  }
}

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Note

crop_vbi is ignored when the video is copied and can't be used with gif and vp6 outputs and the mainconcept_avc and vp6 video codecs.