Organize encodes in a Microsoft Smooth output group

A Microsoft Smooth output group is typically set up as a video ABR stack. The term ABR stands for adaptive bitrate. A video ABR stack is an output group that contains the following:

• Multiple versions (renditions) of the video. Each rendition has a different resolution.

• One or more audio encodes.

• One or more captions encodes.

There are two ways to organize the encodes, depending on whether the audio encodes must be bundled or each in their own rendition. You should have already obtained this information from your downstream system.

Downstream players that require bundled audio

Plan for the output group to contain the following:

• One output for each video encode. This output holds one video encode and all the audio encodes.

  The same audio encodes will appear in each output. For example, the English and French encodes will appear in the high-resolution output, then the same English and French encodes will appear in the low-resolution output.

• One output for each captions encode. The captions in a Microsoft Smooth output group are always sidecar captions.

This diagram illustrates a Microsoft Smooth output group with bundled audio.

Downstream players that require separate audio

Plan for the output group to contain the following:

• One output for each video encode.

• One output for each audio encode.

  The audio encodes might be for different languages, or they might be for different bitrates, or they might be for different languages and bitrates.

• One output for each captions encode. The captions in a Microsoft Smooth output group are always sidecar captions.

The arrangement of the audio encodes in this output group is called an audio rendition group.

This diagram illustrates a Microsoft Smooth output group with an audio rendition group.