Overview
The Media Library is a feature that allows you to upload and encode your video files for use in the Training Center. Once you put a video in your Media Library, you can use, and reuse it as many times as you like.
You can add new files to the Media Library by navigating to 302 – Media Library on the Super User Dashboard, or you can also access it from your 301 – Create/Edit Courseware area.
As a best practice, we suggest naming your files something easy to remember for when you access them to build your training. This file name is for your internal reference only and is not displayed to users on the front end.
Each file type will have a color coded icon next to the thumbnail, letting you know what type of file it is.
The different file types are: Videos, Images, Documents, Interactive Videos, or Audio files.
If you hover over the “3 dots” on the right-side of the file, you’ll see the following options:
- Preview – this will open a preview of the file.
- Copy – this will copy the link of the file so you can place it where ever need be.
- Edit – this will allow you to change the file name, add an internal description, add tags, and also copy a link to the file to your clipboard.
- Remove will allow you to delete the file all together. It will prompt a window that will ask you if you are sure to delete this file selected.
Tags
You can add “tags” to any piece of media in your Media Library. Once you tag a file, you’ll then be able to filter your main view by that tag, for easier file organization. You can add as many tags as you like to each piece of media.
Encoding Settings
When we encode your videos, we encode at the highest quality settings available – however that means you will want to have as high quality video as you can to start with – the ole’ Garbage In = Garbage Out analogy. Below are some answers to commonly asked questions about this process to best assist you in making your video look the best they can.
What video format should my source video be?
The Media Library can accept any format of video and file type that you upload, that is indeed a video (a Powerpoint file is not a video, no matter how many “cool” slide transitions you know how to make – nor is an Animated GIF… sorry). The files that seem like a video file but are not, will be distributed to either the “Images” tab or the “Documents” tab.
What resolution or size should my source video be?
We playback videos at a 16:9 ratio, ideally your source video should be 1920 (width) by 1080 (height). However any size of 16:9 will scale in fine. If your video is not a 16:9 ratio, we will help you and add a “pad” around it to fill up the space to that ratio. We don’t goof up your video by stretching it to an odd size that looks bad.
Common 16:9 ratios
| Width | Height | Standard |
| 3840 | 2160 | 4K UHD |
| 2560 | 1440 | QHD |
| 1920 | 1080 | Full HD |
| 1280 | 720 | HD |
| 960 | 540 | qHD |
| 768 | 432 | |
| 640 | 360 | nHD |
How long will it take to encode my video?
That depends how fast your Internet upload speed is to upload it, and then also how long (in duration) your video is to encode it.
The process goes like this:
– We will upload your video, and you will see a progress bar on this process. A five minute video typically takes less than 30 seconds to upload.
– We will encode your video to all of the different target formats to be compatible across desktop and mobile formats. A five minute video typically takes about three minutes to encode.
Note: You may only upload up to 100 files at one time, and there is an automatic “timeout” after 4 hours. If your videos are not done uploading within that 4 hour time limit you will see an error that says “File Not Found”. If you hit this limit, simply close the Media Library upload screen and open it again and begin uploading again.
What type of video player do we use?
It isn’t any “type” of video player – it is our “Custom VT Player” which uses some industry standard elements, and then added a lot of customization that are specific to our System.
Tip: Once your files are done uploading, and have begun encoding, you may close the upload window. We will notify you through email when each file has been uploaded.
Encoding Output Settings
For optimum results we encode using the following settings:
| Framerate | We’ll use the frame rate of the source file if it is provided in the metadata. Otherwise, we use 30 FPS |
| Still Image | 5 seconds into the first segment |
Other Settings:
Size: 1920 x 1080
| Video Codec | MPEG-4 AVC (H.264) |
| Audio Codec | Advanced Audio Coding (AAC) |
| Bitrate | 8000 k |
| Audio Bitrate | 384 k |
| Audio Sample Rate | 48000 kHz |
Size: 1280 x 720
| Video Codec | MPEG-4 AVC (H.264) |
| Audio Codec | Advanced Audio Coding (AAC) |
| Bitrate | 5000 k |
| Audio Bitrate< | 384 k |
| Audio Sample Rate | 48000 kHz |
Size: 960 x 540
| Video Codec | MPEG-4 AVC (H.264) |
| Audio Codec | Advanced Audio Coding (AAC) |
| Bitrate | 2500 k |
| Audio Bitrate | 384 k |
| Audio Sample Rate | 48000 kHz |
Size: 640 x 360
| Video Codec | MPEG-4 AVC (H.264) |
| Audio Codec | Advanced Audio Coding (AAC) |
| Bitrate | 750 k |
| Audio Bitrate | 384 k |
| Audio Sample Rate | 48000 kHz |
Size: 480 x 270
| Video Codec | MPEG-4 AVC (H.264) |
| Audio Codec | Advanced Audio Coding (AAC) |
| Bitrate | 400 k |
| Audio Bitrate | 384 k |
| Audio Sample Rate | 48000 kHz |
MP4 – High & MP4 – Low
Videos are encoded using different settings based on the source video:
MP4 High
| Size | 1920 x 1080 |
| Bitrate | 8000 k |
| Audio Bitrate | 384 k |
| Audio Sample Rate | 48000 kHz |
| Video Codec | MPEG-4 AVC (H.264) |
| Audio Codec | Advanced Audio Coding (AAC) |
MP4 Low
| Size | 960 x 540 |
| Bitrate | 2500 k |
| Audio Bitrate | 384 k |
| Audio Sample Rate | 48000 kHz |
| Video Codec | MPEG-4 AVC (H.264) |
| Audio Codec | Advanced Audio Coding (AAC) |