Live stream recording FAQ-ApsaraVideo Live(LIVE)-阿里云帮助中心

How long after a live stream ends can I view the recording? Can I change this duration?

By default, a recording is available three minutes after a live stream ends (the stream is interrupted).

Do not set this duration too short or too long. A short duration may cause multiple recordings if the stream ingest is briefly interrupted by network fluctuations. A long duration means you must wait longer to view the recording after the live stream ends.

Why are no recordings generated after I configure a recording template?

By default, recordings are generated three minutes after a live stream ends (the stream is interrupted). If you changed this duration, your configured value is used.
Check whether the AppName and StreamName in the recording template match the AppName and StreamName in the ingest URL. Recordings are generated only when they match.
If you record streams to OSS, check whether the OSS bucket is in the same region as the streaming domain. You cannot record streams to a bucket in a different region.

Can I record a live stream to both VOD and OSS at the same time?

No. ApsaraVideo Live does not support recording a stream to both VOD and OSS simultaneously. You must choose one storage option.

How do I get recordings after a live stream is recorded?

After a live stream is recorded, you can retrieve the recordings in the following ways:

Method 1: View recordings in the ApsaraVideo Live console. For more information, see Manage recordings.
Method 2: Call the DescribeLiveStreamRecordContent operation to query recorded content.

For example, to retrieve the recordings of the live stream aliyundoc.com/live/teststream from 09:00:00 on 2019-02-15 to 21:00:00 on 2019-02-15 (UTC+8), you can call the DescribeLiveStreamRecordContent operation as follows. Note that the StartTime and EndTime parameters are in UTC. Ensure that you convert the time from your local time zone.
```
/?AppName=live
&DomainName=aliyundoc.com
&StreamName=teststream
&StartTime=2019-02-15T01:00:00Z
&EndTime=2019-02-15T13:00:00Z
&<Common request parameters>
```

Can I call an API operation to download recordings from OSS?

No. ApsaraVideo Live does not provide an API operation to download recordings from OSS directly. To download the files, go to the OSS console. For more information, see Simple download.

How do I get the playback URL for a recording stored in OSS?

For more information, see Download or preview a file using a signed URL.

Why can't I select a transcoding template when I record a live stream to VOD?

To record a live stream to VOD, you must first create a transcoding template in ApsaraVideo VOD. For more information, see Transcoding templates. The transcoding template must be in the same region as the domain name. For example, if the domain name is in the China (Shanghai) region, the transcoding template must also be in the China (Shanghai) region.

Why can't I watch a recording in the ApsaraVideo Live console?

To view recordings in the ApsaraVideo Live console, see Manage recordings. If you cannot watch a recording, troubleshoot the issue as follows:

Log on to the OSS console and check if the access control list (ACL) of the OSS bucket is set to private.

If the bucket ACL is private, the ApsaraVideo Live console cannot retrieve an authenticated URL for the recording, and playback fails. For more information, see Bucket ACL. Change the bucket ACL to public-read.

Alternatively, see How do I obtain the playback URL for a recording stored in OSS? to obtain an authenticated URL and play it in another player.
Check if HTTPS is enabled for the domain name.

The ApsaraVideo Live console uses HTTPS and can only play recordings from HTTPS URLs. If you use the default OSS domain name for the bucket, no additional configuration is needed because the default OSS domain name already has an SSL certificate. If you use a custom domain name for the bucket, you must enable HTTPS. For more information, see Deploy an SSL certificate.

Alternatively, see How do I obtain the playback URL for a recording stored in OSS? to obtain the playback URL. Then, play it in an HTTP environment using ApsaraVideo Player.
Check if the OSS bucket allows cross-origin access.

For more information, see Troubleshoot OSS cross-origin resource sharing (CORS) errors.

If the issue persists after you confirm that all configurations are correct, submit a ticket to contact Alibaba Cloud technical support. For information about how to submit a ticket, see Contact us.

A manual recording call to RealTimeRecordCommand fails if no recording rule is configured

Before you call the RealTimeRecordCommand operation to manually record a stream on demand, you must configure a recording rule. For more information, see Custom recording policies.

Recording index-based editing generates only new M3U8 files. How can I generate an MP4 file from an M3U8 recording?

Use ApsaraVideo Media Processing to transcode the file to the MP4 format. For more information, see Submit transcoding jobs.

What is the purpose of a recording epoch?

A recording epoch is the maximum duration of a single recording file. If a live stream exceeds this duration, a new file is generated. The recording epoch ranges from 15 to 360 minutes. You can set it when you configure a recording template in the ApsaraVideo Live console, or by calling the AddLiveRecordVodConfig operation (to record to VOD) or the AddLiveAppRecordConfig operation (to record to OSS).

I configured a recording template to store recordings in M3U8, FLV, and MP4 formats in OSS. Why are many short M3U8, FLV, and MP4 recordings generated after the live stream ends?

Check the following:

Check whether the stream ingest was frequently interrupted for more than three minutes. By default, a new recording is generated if the stream is interrupted for three minutes.
Check if the recording epoch configured in the template is too short. A new file is also generated if the live stream duration exceeds the specified recording epoch.