Differences between the API and the console

You can build a production service using either the production studio console or the production studio API, depending on your needs. For example:

• If your company needs to live stream a conference held in multiple locations, you can use the production studio feature in the console. This lets you easily use the production service without any development.
• If you want to build a Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) platform for customers or users, you can use the more flexible production studio API.

The main differences between the production studio console and the API are as follows:

Category	Feature	Specification	Console	API
Production studio inputs	Video source	Number	≤6	≤6
		Live source	Supports Alibaba Cloud CDN live sources	Supports live sources from any network
		VOD source	Supports video-on-demand (VOD) sources from the material library	Supports VOD videos from any network
		Resolution	360P, 480P, 720P, 1080P	360P, 480P, 720P, 1080P
		Live stream pulling protocol	rtmp	http, rtmp
		Video format	3gp, asf, avi, dat, dv, flv, f4v, gif, m3u8, m4v, mj2, mjpeg, mkv, mov, mp4, mpeg, ogg, rm, rmvb, swf, ts, vob, wmv, webm, ac3	3gp, asf, avi, dat, dv, flv, f4v, gif, m3u8, m4v, mj2, mjpeg, mkv, mov, mp4, mpeg, ogg, rm, rmvb, swf, ts, vob, wmv, webm, ac3
		Encoding format	MP3, AAC/HEAAC, WAV, H.264, VP8, VP9	MP3, AAC/HEAAC, WAV, H.264, VP8, VP9
	Text	Number	≤4	≤4
		Font	KaiTi	KaiTi
		Layout	Horizontal	Horizontal
		Color	RGB	RGB
		Character count	≤1024	≤1024
	Image	Number	≤4	≤4
		Resolution	360P, 480P, 720P	360P, 480P, 720P
		Image format	png, jpg, apng, gif	png, jpg, apng, gif
Production studio outputs	Watch outputs	Channel	6	6
		PVW	1	1
		PGM	1	1
	Bypass outputs	Number	1	1
		Stream ingest protocol	rtmp	rtmp
		Encoding format	H.264, AAC	H.264, AAC
		Resolution	360P, 480P, 720P	360P, 480P, 720P
		Bypass latency	0-300 s	0-300 s
		Bypass address	Not customizable	Third-party ingest URLs allowed
	Emergency standby	Standby video	Custom videos supported (≤1080P)	Custom videos supported (≤1080P)
		Standby switch	Supports switching to standby, switching back, and clearing the bypass	Supports switching to standby, switching back, and clearing the bypass
ApsaraVideo Media Processing	Video layout	Number of screens	≤4	≤4
		Layout style	Single screen, Picture-in-Picture (PiP), side-by-side, three-screen, four-screen, and more	Custom layout styles supported
		Number of layouts	≤12	Unlimited
		Playback control	pause and seek not supported	pause and seek supported for VOD files
	Audio mixing	Number of audio tracks	≤6	≤6
		Volume adjustment	Supported	Supported
		PGM listener	Supported	Implement as needed
		Local preview	Supported	Implement as needed
		Audio gain	0-2.0	0-10.0
		Sound channel control	Not supported	Supported
		Audio follow	Supported	Supported
	Speech recognition	Speech captions	Not supported	Supported
	Live stream transcoding	Bypass transcoding	360P, 480P, 720P	360P, 480P, 720P, 1080P
	Cloud recording	Recording format	m3u8, mp4, flv	m3u8, mp4, flv
		Bypass recording	Supports bypass recording for live streams on Alibaba Cloud CDN	Supports bypass recording for live streams on Alibaba Cloud CDN
	Sync mode	Sync area	Channel, PGM, PVW	Channel, PGM, PVW
	Production studio latency	Switching latency	≤700 ms	≤700 ms (with low latency integration)