Video API

The interface that turns video infrastructure — upload, encoding, storage, delivery, playback — into a few HTTP calls inside your own product.

Updated: November 2026 7 min read Developers
In short

A video API lets your backend and apps upload, transcode, store, protect and stream video through HTTP requests, so you build the product around the video instead of the encoding servers, storage and CDN underneath it.

What is a video API?

A video API is a programmatic interface to a video platform. Instead of uploading files by hand in a dashboard, your backend or app sends HTTP requests: create a video, upload the file, check its status, get an embed or playback URL, restrict who can watch, read analytics. The platform does the heavy work in between — transcodingTranscodingRe-encoding a source video into multiple resolutions and bitrates so a player can switch between quality levels on the fly.Open definition → into an adaptive ladder, storage, delivery over a CDNCDN (Content Delivery Network)A global network of edge servers that caches video close to viewers, cutting latency and absorbing traffic spikes.Open definition → and playback.

It is what teams use when video is part of their own product rather than a marketing asset: a course platform with lessons, an app where users upload clips, a SaaS tool that records meetings, a marketplace with product videos.

What a video API covers

LayerBuilt yourselfWith a video API
UploadResumable uploads, retries, storage bucketsOne request, upload links for clients, chunked uploads for large files
EncodingFFmpeg workers, queues, ladder tuningAutomatic adaptive renditions
PackagingHLSHLS (HTTP Live Streaming)Apple’s adaptive streaming protocol. Uses .m3u8 manifests and segmented delivery; supported on every browser, device and smart TV.Open definition →/DASHDASHDynamic Adaptive Streaming over HTTP — an open ISO standard using .mpd manifests, common for DRM-protected premium content.Open definition → segmenting, manifestsDone on upload
DeliveryCDN contract, cache rules, egress billsIncluded, billed per GB
ProtectionLicence servers, token signingDRMDRMEncryption of the video file plus a licence server that issues a per-session key — so a downloaded copy stays unplayable.Open definition →, domain locks, signed linksSigned URLA playback link carrying an expiry and a cryptographic token — it stops working once the window closes, and a tampered link never works.Open definition →
PlaybackPlayer, mobile players, analyticsEmbeddable player, SDKs, player events
StatusPolling your own jobsWebhooksVideo webhooksHTTP calls a video platform makes to your backend when a video is ready or a live stream starts — so your product reacts without polling.Open definition →

How a video API workflow runs

Authenticate

Create an API token in the dashboard and send it as a Bearer header from your backend — never from the browser or the mobile app.

Upload

Send a file in one request, import it from a URL, or create an upload link so the client uploads straight to the platform without passing through your server. Large files go in resumable chunks.

Let it process

The platform encodes adaptive renditions and notifies your backend with a webhook when the video is ready — no polling.

Play and track

Embed the player or use a native SDK, restrict playback to your users, and read player events and analytics to know who watched what.

Large files and user uploads

Uploads are where home-grown video features break first. A 4K screen recording can run to tens of gigabytes; on a phone connection, a single-request upload that fails at 90% starts again from zero. Video APIs solve this with resumable, chunked protocols such as TUS: the file goes in pieces, and a dropped connection resumes from the last confirmed chunk.

For user-generated video, the usual pattern is a short-lived upload link: your backend asks the API for one, hands it to the client, and the file goes directly from the user’s device to the video platform. Your servers never carry the bytes.

Example: import a video by URL with the Kinescope API

curl -X POST https://uploader.kinescope.io/v2/video \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $KINESCOPE_API_TOKEN" \
  -H "X-Video-Title: Lesson 1" \
  -H "X-Video-URL: https://example.com/lesson-1.mp4"

Further reading

Denis Konnov

Written by

Denis Konnov Verified

CMO at Kinescope

Denis leads marketing and content at Kinescope, working closely with the platform's engineers. This glossary is reviewed and kept up to date by the team building Kinescope's streaming, encoding and CDN delivery infrastructure.

FAQ

Can’t find the answer you need? Check out our Help Center.

A video API is a programmatic interface to a video platform: your backend or app uploads, transcodes, stores, protects and streams video through HTTP requests instead of running encoding servers, storage and a CDN itself. It is used when video is part of your own product — courses, user uploads, recordings, marketplaces.

Have your backend request a short-lived upload link from the video API, let the client upload directly to the platform, receive a webhook when encoding finishes, then embed the player or use a native SDK with playback restricted to signed-in users. Your servers never carry the video bytes.

Automatically on upload. The platform encodes the source into several resolutions and bitrates, packages them for adaptive streaming (HLS, DASH) and reports when the video is ready, so there is no separate encoding pipeline to build.

Use a resumable, chunked upload protocol such as TUS. The file is sent in pieces, and if the connection drops the upload continues from the last confirmed chunk instead of restarting — essential for multi-gigabyte files and mobile connections.
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