Transcode a Short Drama Library

Why this matters

Short-drama platforms ingest thousands of episodes; consistency matters more than any single file. CRF-based encoding keeps visual quality uniform while sizes float naturally.

A batch queue with per-file status turns a weekend of manual encodes into an overnight run.

How it works

Point the API at the episode folder with codec=h264 and a CRF target; each episode returns size, average bitrate, and VMAF-style quality metrics.

Submit a job with an input URL (S3, GCS or HTTPS), poll the job URL, and download the rendered output. No GPU, no queues, no ffmpeg builds to babysit.

Code

import requests, time

API = "https://api.mlslabs.io/v1/encode/jobs"
headers = {"X-API-Key": "YOUR_API_KEY"}
payload = {"input": "s3://bucket/episodes/", "codec": "h264", "crf": 23, "pattern": "*.mp4"}

resp = requests.post(API, json=payload, headers=headers)
job = resp.json()
while job["status"] not in ("succeeded", "failed"):
    time.sleep(3)
    job = requests.get(job["url"], headers=headers).json()

print("Output:", job["output_url"])

Pro tips

• Smoke-test 3 episodes from different shows first — dark and fast scenes stress encoders differently.
• CRF 23 is a solid H.264 default; go 21 for drama, 26 for talking-head content.
• Archive the per-file metrics; they make capacity planning trivial.

Run the Encode collection — short-drama preset prefilled.