Zencoder

Zencoder is a cloud-based video and audio encoding (transcoding) platform, now part of Brightcove, that turns source media into web-, mobile-, and broadcast-ready outputs at scale. Its REST API lets developers submit encoding jobs, generate multiple simultaneous outputs (MP4, HLS, DASH, HEVC/H.265, VP9, 4K/UHD, HDR10), apply captions, watermarks, clips, and thumbnails, protect content with DRM and encryption, and receive completion notifications via webhooks. Zencoder is known for its Emmy Award-winning Context Aware Encoding (CAE), no queue time, and per-minute usage-based pricing. The v2 API is organized around Jobs, Inputs, Outputs, Accounts, and Reports resources and authenticates with a Zencoder-Api-Key header (also accepted as an api_key query parameter). Originally an a16z / GV / 500 Global-backed startup, Zencoder was acquired by Brightcove and its API is documented and supported under the Brightcove developer surface.

Zencoder publishes 5 APIs on the APIs.io network, including Accounts API, Inputs API, Jobs API, and 2 more. Tagged areas include Company, Video, Video Encoding, Transcoding, and Media.

The Zencoder catalog on APIs.io includes 1 event-driven AsyncAPI specification.

Zencoder’s developer surface includes documentation, API reference, getting-started guide, support, signup flow, changelog, authentication, and 22 more developer resources.

🌐 Visit website 📡 Source on GitHub
54.0/100 developing ▬ flat Agent 71/100 agent native Full breakdown ↓
scored 2026-07-27 · rubric v0.5
AccessSelf serve
5 APIs 1 MCP Servers
CompanyVideoVideo EncodingTranscodingMediaStreamingVideo ProcessingCloudBrightcoveCaptionsDRMHLS

Kin Score

Kin Score Kin Score How this is scored →
scored 2026-07-27 · rubric v0.5
Composite quality — 54.0/100 · developing
Contract Quality 15.7 / 25
Developer Ergonomics 15.7 / 20
Commercial Clarity 6.8 / 20
Operational Transparency 5.8 / 13
Governance 0.0 / 12
Discoverability 10.0 / 10
Agent readiness — 71/100 · agent native
Machine-Readable Contract 18 / 18
Agentic Access Contract 15 / 15
MCP Server 12 / 12
Machine-Readable Auth 10 / 10
Idempotency 0 / 9
Stable Error Semantics 8 / 8
Request/Response Examples 0 / 7
Rate-Limit Signaling 0 / 7
Typed Event Surface 6 / 6
Agent Skills 5 / 5
Well-Known Catalog 0 / 4
Consent & Bot Identity 0 / 3
Improve this rating by publishing the missing artifacts — every area above can be raised, and the full rubric is at apis.io/rating/. This rating is computed from github.com/api-evangelist/zencoder: open an issue to ask a question, or submit a pull request to add artifacts. Want it done for you? Prioritized profiling — $2,500 →

APIs 5

Individual APIs this provider publishes, each with its own machine-readable definition.

Zencoder Accounts API

Operations for managing accounts.

Zencoder Inputs API

Operations for getting input details and progress.

Zencoder Jobs API

Operations for managing Zencoder encoding jobs.

Zencoder Outputs API

Operations for getting output details and progress.

Zencoder Reports API

Operations for getting reports.

MCP Servers 1

Model Context Protocol servers that expose these APIs to AI agents.

zencoder-mcp.yml

MCP SERVER

Event Specifications 1

AsyncAPI definitions for this provider's event-driven and streaming APIs.

Zencoder Notifications Webhooks

ASYNCAPI

Security Posture 2

Authentication, domain security, vulnerability disclosure, and trust-center signals.

Zencoder Authentication

apiKey · 1 scheme

SECURITY

Zencoder Domain Security

TLSv1.3 · DMARC

SECURITY

Agentic Access 1

Recommended x-agentic-access execution contracts for AI agents.

Zencoder Agentic Access

16 operations · 6 acting

16 operations · 6 acting

AGENTIC

Resources

Get Started 5

Portal, sign-up, and the first successful call

DeveloperPortal
DeveloperPortal
 GettingStarted
GettingStarted
 SignUp
SignUp
 Login
Login
 Sandbox
Sandbox

Documentation 2

Reference material describing how the API behaves

Documentation
Documentation
 APIReference
APIReference

Agent Surfaces 4

MCP servers, agent skills, and machine-readable catalogs

MCPServer
MCPServer
 AgentSkill
AgentSkill
 AgenticAccess
AgenticAccess
 LLMsTxt
LLMsTxt

Design & Contract 6

Pagination, idempotency, versioning, errors, and events

Conventions
Conventions
 ErrorCatalog
ErrorCatalog
 Lifecycle
Lifecycle
 DataModel
DataModel
 Conformance
Conformance
 Webhooks
Webhooks

Build 3

SDKs, sample code, and the tooling you integrate with

GitHubOrganization
GitHubOrganization
 Packages
Packages
 SDKs
SDKs

Access & Security 2

Authentication, authorization, and security posture

DomainSecurity
DomainSecurity
 Authentication
Authentication

Operate 3

Status, limits, changes, and where to get help

Support
Support
 StatusPage
StatusPage
 ChangeLog
ChangeLog

Commercial 2

Pricing, plans, and the legal terms of use

TermsOfService
TermsOfService
 PrivacyPolicy
PrivacyPolicy

Company 1

The organization behind the API

Website
Website

Other 1

Properties that don't map to a standard resource type

Overlay
Overlay

Source (apis.yml)

apis.yml Raw ↑ 
aid: zencoder
name: Zencoder
description: Zencoder is a cloud-based video and audio encoding (transcoding) platform, now part of Brightcove, that turns
  source media into web-, mobile-, and broadcast-ready outputs at scale. Its REST API lets developers submit encoding jobs,
  generate multiple simultaneous outputs (MP4, HLS, DASH, HEVC/H.265, VP9, 4K/UHD, HDR10), apply captions, watermarks, clips,
  and thumbnails, protect content with DRM and encryption, and receive completion notifications via webhooks. Zencoder is
  known for its Emmy Award-winning Context Aware Encoding (CAE), no queue time, and per-minute usage-based pricing. The v2
  API is organized around Jobs, Inputs, Outputs, Accounts, and Reports resources and authenticates with a Zencoder-Api-Key
  header (also accepted as an api_key query parameter). Originally an a16z / GV / 500 Global-backed startup, Zencoder was
  acquired by Brightcove and its API is documented and supported under the Brightcove developer surface.
url: https://raw.githubusercontent.com/api-evangelist/zencoder/refs/heads/main/apis.yml
x-type: company
x-source: vc-portfolio
x-backed-by:
- 500-global
- a16z
- gv
x-tier: enriched
x-tier-reason: portfolio-lead
accessModel:
  pricing: unknown
  onboarding: self-serve
  trial: false
  try_now: false
  public: false
  label: Self-serve signup
  confidence: medium
  source:
  - authentication
  generated: '2026-07-22'
  method: derived
specificationVersion: '0.20'
created: '2026-07-17'
modified: '2026-07-21'
image: https://zencoder.support.brightcove.com/assets/s-site-assets-favicons/apple-touch-icon.png
tags:
- Company
- Video
- Video Encoding
- Transcoding
- Media
- Streaming
- Video Processing
- Cloud
- Brightcove
- Captions
- DRM
- HLS
maintainers:
- FN: Kin Lane
  email: kin@apievangelist.com
- FN: APIs.json
  email: info@apis.io
apis:
- aid: zencoder:zencoder-accounts-api
  name: Zencoder Accounts API
  description: Operations for managing accounts.
  humanURL: https://zencoder.support.brightcove.com/references/reference.html
  baseURL: https://app.zencoder.com/api/v2
  tags:
  - Accounts
  properties:
  - type: OpenAPI
    url: openapi/zencoder-accounts-api-openapi.yml
  - type: Documentation
    url: https://zencoder.support.brightcove.com/
  - type: APIReference
    url: https://zencoder.support.brightcove.com/references/reference.html
  - type: GettingStarted
    url: https://zencoder.support.brightcove.com/getting-started/quick-start-zencoder.html
  - type: Authentication
    url: authentication/zencoder-authentication.yml
  - type: Webhooks
    url: asyncapi/zencoder-notifications-webhooks.yml
- aid: zencoder:zencoder-inputs-api
  name: Zencoder Inputs API
  description: Operations for getting input details and progress.
  humanURL: https://zencoder.support.brightcove.com/references/reference.html
  baseURL: https://app.zencoder.com/api/v2
  tags:
  - Inputs
  properties:
  - type: OpenAPI
    url: openapi/zencoder-inputs-api-openapi.yml
  - type: Documentation
    url: https://zencoder.support.brightcove.com/
  - type: APIReference
    url: https://zencoder.support.brightcove.com/references/reference.html
  - type: GettingStarted
    url: https://zencoder.support.brightcove.com/getting-started/quick-start-zencoder.html
  - type: Authentication
    url: authentication/zencoder-authentication.yml
  - type: Webhooks
    url: asyncapi/zencoder-notifications-webhooks.yml
- aid: zencoder:zencoder-jobs-api
  name: Zencoder Jobs API
  description: Operations for managing Zencoder encoding jobs.
  humanURL: https://zencoder.support.brightcove.com/references/reference.html
  baseURL: https://app.zencoder.com/api/v2
  tags:
  - Jobs
  properties:
  - type: OpenAPI
    url: openapi/zencoder-jobs-api-openapi.yml
  - type: Documentation
    url: https://zencoder.support.brightcove.com/
  - type: APIReference
    url: https://zencoder.support.brightcove.com/references/reference.html
  - type: GettingStarted
    url: https://zencoder.support.brightcove.com/getting-started/quick-start-zencoder.html
  - type: Authentication
    url: authentication/zencoder-authentication.yml
  - type: Webhooks
    url: asyncapi/zencoder-notifications-webhooks.yml
- aid: zencoder:zencoder-outputs-api
  name: Zencoder Outputs API
  description: Operations for getting output details and progress.
  humanURL: https://zencoder.support.brightcove.com/references/reference.html
  baseURL: https://app.zencoder.com/api/v2
  tags:
  - Outputs
  properties:
  - type: OpenAPI
    url: openapi/zencoder-outputs-api-openapi.yml
  - type: Documentation
    url: https://zencoder.support.brightcove.com/
  - type: APIReference
    url: https://zencoder.support.brightcove.com/references/reference.html
  - type: GettingStarted
    url: https://zencoder.support.brightcove.com/getting-started/quick-start-zencoder.html
  - type: Authentication
    url: authentication/zencoder-authentication.yml
  - type: Webhooks
    url: asyncapi/zencoder-notifications-webhooks.yml
- aid: zencoder:zencoder-reports-api
  name: Zencoder Reports API
  description: Operations for getting reports.
  humanURL: https://zencoder.support.brightcove.com/references/reference.html
  baseURL: https://app.zencoder.com/api/v2
  tags:
  - Reports
  properties:
  - type: OpenAPI
    url: openapi/zencoder-reports-api-openapi.yml
  - type: Documentation
    url: https://zencoder.support.brightcove.com/
  - type: APIReference
    url: https://zencoder.support.brightcove.com/references/reference.html
  - type: GettingStarted
    url: https://zencoder.support.brightcove.com/getting-started/quick-start-zencoder.html
  - type: Authentication
    url: authentication/zencoder-authentication.yml
  - type: Webhooks
    url: asyncapi/zencoder-notifications-webhooks.yml
common:
- type: DomainSecurity
  url: security/zencoder-domain-security.yml
- type: Website
  url: https://zencoder.com
- type: DeveloperPortal
  url: https://zencoder.support.brightcove.com/
- type: Documentation
  url: https://zencoder.support.brightcove.com/
- type: APIReference
  url: https://zencoder.support.brightcove.com/references/reference.html
- type: GettingStarted
  url: https://zencoder.support.brightcove.com/getting-started/quick-start-zencoder.html
- type: Support
  url: https://zencoder.support.brightcove.com/support/index.html
- type: SignUp
  url: https://app.zencoder.com/signup
- type: Login
  url: https://app.zencoder.com/login
- type: TermsOfService
  url: https://www.brightcove.com/legal/terms-and-conditions
- type: PrivacyPolicy
  url: https://www.brightcove.com/legal/privacy-policy
- type: GitHubOrganization
  url: https://github.com/zencoder
- type: StatusPage
  url: https://status.brightcove.com/
- type: ChangeLog
  url: changelog/zencoder-changelog.yml
- type: Packages
  url: packages/zencoder-packages.yml
- type: SDKs
  url: packages/zencoder-packages.yml
- type: Authentication
  url: authentication/zencoder-authentication.yml
- type: Conventions
  url: conventions/zencoder-conventions.yml
- type: ErrorCatalog
  url: errors/zencoder-error-codes.yml
- type: Lifecycle
  url: lifecycle/zencoder-lifecycle.yml
- type: DataModel
  url: data-model/zencoder-data-model.yml
- type: Conformance
  url: conformance/zencoder-conformance.yml
- type: Webhooks
  url: asyncapi/zencoder-notifications-webhooks.yml
- type: Sandbox
  url: sandbox/zencoder-sandbox.yml
- type: MCPServer
  url: mcp/zencoder-mcp.yml
- type: AgentSkill
  url: skills/_index.yml
- type: Overlay
  url: overlays/zencoder-openapi-overlay.yaml
- type: AgenticAccess
  url: agentic-access/zencoder-agentic-access.yml
- type: LLMsTxt
  url: llms/zencoder-llms.txt
x-enrichment:
  date: '2026-07-21'
  status: enriched
  artifacts_added: 21
  pass: local-v1