Encoding/Transcoding

Encoding and transcoding video is at the heart of online video, and Streaming Media offers deep dives into encoding parameters, bitrate ladders, per-title encoding, content/context-aware encoding, CBR, VBR, and ABR. Here you’ll find the latest news, reviews, tests, and analysis to help you stay on the top of your encoding/transcoding game.

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Features

The State of Streaming Codecs 2026

Streaming codec adoption used to be an engineering abstraction governed by RD curves, BD-rate tables, and roadmap slides that no one outside of R&D ever considered. Over the last 15 months, codec adoption decisions have morphed into a much broader discussion, involving C-level execs from finance and legal. While the precursors to this transition occurred pre-2025, the situation coalesced in 2025. During the same period, we saw one codec step to the front (AV1) and another shrink before our eyes (VVC).

The State of Streaming Sustainability 2026

Is it still fashionable to be sustainable, even with AI?

Streamticker: The Biggest Streaming Mergers and Acquisitions of 2025

Here is a month-by-month roundup of the streaming industry's most momentous mergers and acquisitions of 2025 (excluding the competing Paramount Skydance and Netflix bids for Warner Bros. Discovery—a drama that just turned definitively in Paramount's favour at press time).

Review: Media Excel HERO 6000

This review will highlight Media Excel's HERO 6000 and walk readers through the process of configuring streaming using the HERO platform. You'll learn how to deliver live streams, create encoding presets, add audio presets, create channels, and add outputs for playback. The article will also cover how to add roles and play streams.

Sponsored Articles

European Innovation in Streaming: Infrastructure Sovereignty as a Competitive Edge

Interview with Alexander Leschinsky, CEO and Co-Founder, G&L Systemhaus

Scaling live streaming without the stress

How media organisations are tackling the toughest bottlenecks in live video delivery

Tech Talk: Making the Most out of BRIDGE LIVE with AJA's Mike Boucke

From facilitating live-event streaming to remote production and beyond, AJA's multi-channel UltraHD and HD live video solution BRIDGE LIVE supports a wide range of streaming and contribution codecs. Join AJA product manager Mike Boucke to learn more about this powerful device and all it offers for live-stream workflows—from ultra-low latency to support for NDI and more.

Interview with Pieter-Jan Speelmans, Technical Working Group Chair of HESP Alliance

An interview with Pieter-Jan Speelmans, Technical Working Group Chair of HESP Alliance. Over the past three years, he has been working actively to reduce the complexity in video pipelines and improve the viewer Quality of Experience (QoE) from perspectives beyond the video player with the High Efficiency Streaming Protocol, a highly scalable ultra-low latency streaming protocol for the next generation of streaming services.

Encoding/Transcoding Companies and Suppliers