If you've decided to live stream content online, you must do a few things. Setting up the camera is the most obvious part of the process, but that’s only step one.

Streaming your live video content online requires encoding the video so that your company can transmit the data appropriately and transcode it for real-time consumption.


If you don’t know what video encoding is and why you need it, in this article, we’ll explain everything you should know so that you can live stream your content without any hiccups.

In the context of video, encoding is the process of taking raw video content — the content that your video device records — and transforming it into a format that’s compatible with an electronic device.

Encoding vs. transcoding: what’s the difference?

Encoding is not the same as transcoding, despite their similar names. The main difference between both concepts is that encoding refers to the process of taking your video content and making it easy to consume on a computer, phone, or tablet. On the other hand, transcoding takes an encoded video and decodes it in different sizes, resolutions, bitrates, and more.

Encoding makes your video recording consumable by computers and other devices

Transcoding adapts your video's size, resolution, and bitrate for each viewer's Internet bandwidth

Video Transcoding: What is it, why is it important, and how can I do it?

At first, the need for encoding seems a bit redundant. You may think to yourself that video doesn't need to be changed from the format it's recorded. After all, when you record a video with your phone, it's immediately ready to playback afterward. That happens because your phone automatically encodes and decodes your video after it's recorded.


At some point, you must have downloaded a video that wasn't consumable on your computer or phone. You may recall the problem was tied to the "codecs" or the "format." Before we get into these concepts, we need to go over the details of what makes encoding necessary.


Video cameras record content so that each frame is a picture. Therefore, a video is a compilation of still images, much like hand-drawn animations.


The problem with this setup is that each second of a video is made up of 24 to 60 frames (also known as “frames per second” or “fps”). Multiply your recording’s fps by its amount of seconds, and you will get the total number of frames per video. Multiply that number by the size of each frame (which can vary from a few dozen to hundreds of kilobytes, or even megabytes), and you will get a massive number that will be impossible to playback and transmit online.

To overcome this issue, you encode your recording so that each frame is smaller and easier to play. Better yet, the video will be smaller while losing little to no quality.


Still, this explanation doesn't explain everything about encoding, so let's take a deeper dive into the technicalities of encoding.

Imagine you have recorded a two-minute video on your camera. When you connect your camera to your computer, the camera’s software will automatically:

Use a codec (short for “coder/decoder” or “compressor-decompressor”) that compresses the file

Format the new compressed file into a video format (or “container”)

These two steps are what encoding is all about. Let’s go over them individually to understand this even better.

Codecs are algorithms that transform a raw video file into an asset that you can consume on a device like a computer or a phone. What makes codecs crucial in the encoding process is that they compress a video file by using either of the two compression formats:

, which leaves the video intact, making the file heavier but higher-quality

, which reduces the video in a non-noticeable way so that it’s smaller and easier to consume and transmit online

As the acronym suggests, codecs compress the file, so it’s easier to store and transmit, but they also decompress it to make it compatible with other devices. Some codecs can compress both video and audio files, while some can’t. In any case, codecs are always paired together so that you can compress both parts simultaneously.

There are dozens of codecs for each of the two compression formats, each with benefits and disadvantages. The five most popular ones are the following:

: The most popular and widely supported codec for live streaming.

: The replacement for H.264 can provide two times the performance of its predecessor, despite not being as widely supported.

: An open-source, royalty-free video codec that leverages lossless compression. It’s better suited for ultra-high definition (UHD).

: Another open-source, royalty-free video codec that brings consistent, high-quality video.

: The successor of H.265 is predicted to boost compression rates by 50%. Just like its forebear, it’s yet too early to see if it’s as good as it’s deemed and still lacks wide support.



H.264 and H.265 are perfect for high-definition videos intended for live streaming. The drawback? They come with a costly license fee.

AV1 and VP9 are the best free alternatives capable of providing similar performance to the previous ones, with VP9 better suited if you plan to target Android devices.



An encoding video format is a file that contains (hence its name) the compressed audio and video file. It also includes the metadata, which allows the video player to use the audio and video codecs properly, among other things.

Although a video container and its extension aren’t necessarily the same thing, they are often treated as equal, with some of the most widely-used ones being:

: Popular due to its high compatibility with both Windows and Mac operating systems. It also keeps the audio quality high after compression. The only drawbacks are that it’s impossible to set and modify aspect ratios manually and that the compression results in visible quality losses.

: An open-source format that offers lossless compression and high resolution. Sadly, few mobile players support MKV while it offers a slow loading speed. Its compression also generates large video files.

: Famous for offering laser-sharp quality and high compatibility with other video formats. However, its lossy compression leads to poorer quality and a large file size.

: The best format for file size efficiency, loading speed, and compression. It’s light on bandwidth, guarantees lossless compression, and supports overlay texts. Sadly, it depends on different codecs for best results and has relatively high loading times.

: A Google-backed video format crafted for web videos. HTML5 supports the format and focuses on keeping clips small. Despite using lossless compression with small file sizes, the problem is that it results in relatively low-video quality, offers limited support for mobile devices, and has no support for Mozilla Firefox.



Just as it happens with codecs, each encoding format carries its benefits and challenges. Some offer better compatibility with video players, while others focus on quality instead of compression.

How to implement encoding for live streaming?

Encoding a video is a relatively straightforward process that requires some planning to find the right codecs and formats for your needs. But when it comes to encoding for live streaming, things get a bit more complicated.

The first point is that the video content needs to be encoded fast so it can then be transcoded and transmitted online (what we call “streaming”). The compression format must be lossy to enable fast encoding. Sure, the quality may not be the highest, but it’s the most convenient for speed.

The codecs previously mentioned offer lossy compression, the most widely used being H.264.

Most smartphones come with a built-in encoder, making it easy to live stream from social media and messaging apps. However, specific encoding software and hardware may be necessary for companies that need high-quality live streaming.

Imagine that you want to live stream an event in a physical location, like a retail shop. You set up your cameras, lights, microphones, computer, and Internet connection.


, the encoder takes the raw digital data from the cameras and microphones and transforms them to be transcoded and appropriately streamed.

Since encoding live-streamed content requires a higher capacity than what we mentioned so far, you will need to set up a special hardware or software encoder.


Roughly speaking, encoding hardware is suited for professional broadcasting (think CNN or the BBC). Although it provides the most reliable and faster results due to the machine focusing solely on encoding, its costs and lack of upgrading options (e.g., switching) aren’t worth it for most streamers.

Live streaming encoding software offers a similar capacity at a much lower price. Even if the latency is higher, encoding software represents an effective alternative. There are many options available, three of the most popular being:

: A free, open-source, easy-to-use platform with real-time video and audio capturing and mixing and more.

: Starts at $599 (one-time fee) and offers unlimited sources, multiple bitrate streaming, among other things.

: Compatible for Windows only, this encoder offers a wide range of features and it’s free to use for up to four inputs and video up to 768 x 576 resolution. Its paid plans offer up to 1,000 inputs and 4K resolution.

When selecting an encoding software, you need to guarantee it meets the following criteria:

Compatible with your setup, including your computer, microphone, and camera

Offers some editing and mixing capabilities

Once you have chosen and set up your encoding software, you must connect it with your transcoding solution, such as the one Livepeer Video Services offers. This last part is crucial, as no matter how good the encoding may be, if it’s not properly ingested, packaged, and transported through the servers, your viewers will not enjoy your live stream.

To learn more about how crucial transcoding is and how you can set it up, check our guide on the subject:

How to Analyze Livepeer Video Engagement Metrics with Timeplus

 Lenstube offers video on demand for both long-form and short-form videos

web3 social platform for video sharing built on Lens Protocol

 is a web3 social platform for video sharing that combines the best of traditional video-sharing platforms with the latest web3 functionalities. Whether you're a professional creator or an amateur, Lenstube gives you the ability to upload and monetize your video content with ease. Currently, Lenstube offers video on demand for both long-form videos and short-form videos.

Lenstube sets itself apart from traditional video-sharing platforms by incorporating web3 features such as connecting to a crypto wallet, enabling creators to receive tips in MATIC coins, collecting videos as NFTs, and charging membership fees for subscribers. These features are made possible through Lenstube's implementation of various web3 technologies, including Livepeer, Arweave, IPFS, and Lens. By utilizing decentralized technologies, Lenstube is revolutionizing the way creators can share and monetize their content, and provides a new and exciting way to engage with their audience.

 founded Lenstube with the goal of creating a decentralized video sharing platform for content creators. The idea for Lenstube came about after Sasi saw some of his favorite creators, who were creating and teaching web3, being unjustly removed from traditional web2 platforms. This led Sasi to understand the importance of web3 for content creators, and the significance of permanent data storage and content ownership. With this in mind, Sasi set out to create his own web3 video-sharing platform. The first step in this process was to find a video-on-demand service that transcodes and serves video from Arweave.

“I knew that creating a video delivery infrastructure and transcoding videos would be a significant challenge, and I definitely didn't want to spend all my time and resources on these technicalities, especially in the early stages of development. Luckily, I discovered Livepeer on the sponsor list of one of the EthGlobal hackathons. Livepeer provided exactly what I needed to move Lenstube forward, and integrating it into my platform was one the first, and easiest, decisions I made.”

Lenstube's partnership with Livepeer has been a vital component of the platform's success. Currently, all videos on Lenstube, whether they are long or short form, are powered by Livepeer. This means that Livepeer handles all the technical aspects of video delivery, such as ingesting, processing, and transcoding. This has afforded Sasi and the Lenstube team the freedom to focus on other important growth areas, like attracting new creators to the platform and improving user experience.

“Working with Livepeer has definitely been a great experience, and we receive tons of support from the team. Recently, Livepeer launched a feature that displays view counts beneath the video player. We were able to implement this feature pretty quickly, and the team was available to answer any questions we had. Although, most of the time we don’t really need the support, as the guides and docs for the Livepeer SDK and API are awesome.”

Today, Lenstube is thriving and making significant strides in its development. The platform has reached notable milestones, such as surpassing 10,000 video uploads in December 2022, averaging more than 1,000 daily sessions, and reaching more than 50,000 average monthly users in January 2023. These milestones demonstrate the effectiveness of the Lenstube team's efforts and the growing appeal of the platform among content creators and viewers alike.

Lenstube boasts a user-friendly interface that includes all of the features commonly found on traditional web2 video sharing platforms. The front page prominently showcases the most recent and popular short-form (Bytes) and long-form videos hosted on the platform, which can be filtered by video category for easy browsing. Users can log in with their Lens handle on the top right corner of the page. Additionally, various exploration tools can be found on the left-hand menu bar for easy access.

Bytes are short-form, vertical videos that are similar to TikToks and YouTube Shorts. Users can scroll through a feed, like and dislike videos, subscribe to channels, and share Bytes via URL or embed videos directly on websites. Additionally, Bytes can be easily shared on Lenster, Twitter, Reddit, and LinkedIn.

Sasi and the Lenstube team have recently made a concerted effort to develop the Bytes feature. This effort was motivated by the increasing popularity of short-form videos on web2 platforms. Not only do short videos have high user retention rates, but they also provide creators with an effective way to capture an audience and lead them to content on other platforms.

“In my opinion, short-form videos are one of the most effective ways to share content with a wide audience, and they offer creators greater opportunities for engagement. We predict that the use of short-form videos as NFTs will become a popular trend in the web3 community."

Do you want to build your own web3 short-form video app? Disrupt TikTok with this 

 walking through the key components of building a social app with quick, bite-sized video.

Lenstube also enables creators to upload long-form, horizontal videos that are similar to standard YouTube videos. In addition to features found on Bytes, these long-form videos also include view counts, video descriptions, and a comment section.

Every video hosted on Lenstube is equipped with a variety of web3 features. These features not only enable content creators to earn revenue from their videos, but also provide fans with a way to support their favorite creators. This is what sets Lenstube apart from traditional web2 video sharing platforms. Some of the web3 features that Lenstube offers include:

Mirroring across Lens, with custom referral fees

Default sharing of all Lenstube videos across Lens ecosystem apps

Lenstube’s frontend was built using Next.Js, an open-source React framework for web applications. Lenstube uses Apollo Client to manage local and remote data, and to fetch data and do mutations through the Lens Protocol’s GraphQL backend.

Middleware is like a “software glue” that acts as a bridge between different technologies, tools, and databases so they can be integrated into a single system. Lenstube uses Lens Protocol’s indexer for its middleware, and this indexer streamlines data between Lens contracts and viewers. The Lens indexer is a GraphQL server that listens to events from Lens contracts and stores the data into a database. This indexer enables viewers to quickly and efficiently access video data, which leads to a better user experience.

Lenstube’s backend consists of four main components: Livepeer, Arweave, IPFS, and Lens

Lenstube uses Livepeer to process and play back video. Livepeer is a protocol built on Ethereum that distributes video transcoding work throughout its decentralized network. The protocol provides cost efficient, secure, and reliable infrastructure. Livepeer's mainnet launch took place in 2018 and the network now processes millions of minutes of video each week.

Lenstube stores its video files on Arweave and IPFS, web3 protocols that offer data storage on decentralized networks. Arweave and IPFS offer permanent and immutable data storage, and anyone can store data in the networks or offer storage space, without there being a centralized point of failure.

Lenstube uses Lens for its social graph. The Lens social graph is fully composable, open source, and decentralized. This helps transfer full rights and complete ownership of content into the hands of creators.

Sasi intends to improve the Lenstube platform by adding new features, with the primary objective of providing exceptional user experience and boosting user engagement on the platform. Furthermore, Sasi is currently building a mobile application that specifically caters to short-form videos, which will be released soon. This further solidifies his belief that short-form videos represent a rapidly expanding area in the video industry and is positioning Lenstube to capitalize on this growth potential.

If you’re a developer that would like to build your own web3 video app, check out these 

 to get started. If you have any questions about building, 

Lenstube is a web3 social platform for video sharing that combines the best of traditional video-sharing platforms with the latest web3 functionalities. Whether you're a professional creator or an amateur, Lenstube gives you the ability to upload and monetize your video content with ease. Currently, Lenstube offers video on demand for both long-form videos and short-form videos.

What is Video Encoding