Introducing Premium Encoding: Because great moments deserve instant playback, not encoding delays

We’ve all been there: eagerly trying to share a video, only to be stuck staring at the dreaded “This video is processing” screen for what feels like an eternity. These moments are really frustrating, and frankly, they kind of ruin the moment. Unfortunately, encoding videos is a time-consuming and very resource-intensive process. So much so that it often becomes the main bottleneck in creating smooth user experiences on video platforms. Worse yet, it also racks up significant compute costs for service providers.

At bunny.net, we’ve seen it all

Since launching Bunny Stream in 2021, we’ve helped thousands of developers and media publishers redefine what it means to effortlessly deliver videos online. Back then, we did something bold: we offered completely free, customizable transcoding up to 4K resolution.

We allowed anyone to upload and share videos online with just a few clicks and empowered developers with a powerful API-first platform that allowed them to seamlessly build video applications with just a few lines of code.

But even with all this, the age-old problem of encoding wait times persisted. No matter how much we streamlined the process when you uploaded a video, you simply had to wait for it to transcode. At bunny.net, we’re all about creating better online experiences though, and we knew we could take things to the next level.

Introducing Premium Encoding

Today, we’re introducing the next big leap in video delivery with Bunny Stream Premium Encoding, and saying goodbye to encoding wait times once and for all!

Premium Encoding introduces our new Just-In-Time (JIT) technology that makes any video instantly playable, along with support for encoding videos into multiple codecs, starting with support VP9, which brings a massive improvement in compression performance, helping you reduce video file size up to 50%, while also unlocking significant breakthroughs in color rendition thanks to HDR-10 support.

Goodbye waiting: Hello instant playback!

Remember the famous (though debunked) quote attributed to Henry Ford: “If I had asked people what they wanted, they would have said faster horses”? We knew users wanted faster encoding, and it seemed simple enough—just throw more hardware at it, process in parallel, and call it a day. But we didn’t want to create faster horses; we wanted something revolutionary.

That’s why we built the brand new Just-In-Time (JIT) encoding technology, a game-changing approach that pre-segments videos during upload and uses our global edge network to make them instantly playable. By transcoding only the necessary video chunks on the fly as soon as they are needed while processing the rest of the video in the background. With this exciting new update, we’ve eliminated delays caused by video encoding, and for great moments, provided what they deserve: instant playback. 

With Just-In-Time encoding, any video becomes nearly instantly playable. Anywhere. Any time. At any resolution. Just upload your files, and it’s instantly available for anyone to watch.

It's our goal to completely change how we look at sharing video online and provide developers and content creators with a refreshing new experience.

For situations where Just-In-Time isn’t possible, such as videos that can’t be pre-fragmented during upload, every uploaded video is placed into a priority encoding queue with a dedicated set of encoders, ensuring the lowest possible waiting time.

VP9 codec support: More than just speed

The release of Premium Encoding isn’t just about speed or eliminating encoding wait times. It’s our move to empower you with even more advanced encoding features. We’re kicking this off by adding support for the VP9 video codec.

The VP9 codec is a royalty-free, open-source video codec developed by Google that is able to deliver comparable video quality at significantly lower bitrates than the outdated H.264 codec. It offers far superior compression to deliver higher-quality video at lower bitrates while also providing broad device support. For you, that means a significant increase in video quality while slashing storage and delivery costs by a whopping 30-50% on average.

If you’re after the best possible video quality, the VP9 codec also brings HDR-10 support, allowing you to deliver richer colors, deeper contrast, and an immersive viewing experience like never before.

It’s not free, but it’s the next best thing

We originally launched Bunny Stream with the vision of eliminating transcoding costs, and we're still strongly committed to the free plan. In fact, we just announced two major updates that doubled the speed of the free Bunny Stream transcoding.

However, encoding videos on the fly requires a lot of computational resources, and the VP9 codec adds even more complexity that further drives up the costs.

For this reason, we’re introducing Premium Encoding as a paid feature, designed to help you deliver industry-leading video experiences without breaking the bank. 

But don’t worry, as per our DNA, Premium Encoding still comes at a fraction of the cost of traditional transcoding services, with pricing as low as $0.05 per input minute of processed video. Plus, it comes with a significantly simplified pricing model. For more details, you can check out our pricing page.

Best of all, it’s all built-in!

What’s more, Premium Encoding is seamlessly integrated into the existing Bunny Stream workflow. That means you get access to globally distributed storage, an industry-leading CDN, a customizable video player, and other advanced features like AI-powered transcription, AI content tagging, and built-in multi-DRM support. All with just a few clicks or API calls.

With Premium Encoding, you can now effortlessly deliver the best video quality, cut costs, and create exceptional user experiences, to get those special moments live as quickly as possible.

Even more features on the horizon

While we’re thrilled to introduce Premium Encoding and fundamentally change how we think about video encoding, we’re just getting started! Our team is already hard at work on exciting updates to make online video delivery even smoother. Here’s a sneak peek of what’s coming next:

• H.265, and AV1 codec support to expand device support
• Parallel encoding for non-JIT videos with up to 50X speed
• JIT multi-DRM support
• DASH output to enable more use cases
• CMAF (Common Media Application Format) to improve streaming efficiency

Hop Into the future of video delivery with bunny.net

Ready to take your video delivery to the next level? We've just launched the Premium Encoding beta program and are now actively onboarding new customers! To get started, simply follow these three simple steps:

• Log in or sign up on bunny.net.
• Go to a Bunny Stream Video Library and click on the Encoding tab.
• Click the Sign Up For a Preview button and get ready for takeoff!

At bunny.net, we’re on a mission to help make the internet hop faster! We’re excited to help you build better online experiences, and we can’t wait to help you wave goodbye to encoding delays forever. If you have any questions or need assistance, feel free to reach out to our support team or join our Discord community.