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 API contracts indexed 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 and 1 Spectral governance ruleset.

Zencoder’s developer surface includes documentation, API reference, getting-started guide, support, signup flow, changelog, authentication, and 24 more developer resources.

🌐 Visit website 📡 Profile data on GitHub

50.7/100 developing ▬ flat Agent 36/100 agent ready Front door AI 3/6 light saas Full breakdown ↓
scored 2026-11-06 · rubric v0.27.0 · Show this score on your site →

1 published contract 3 Agent Skills

Company Video Video Encoding Transcoding Media Streaming Video Processing CloudBrightcoveCaptions DRM HLS

What this lets a business do 1

Business capabilities this provider's published APIs can perform, derived from its own contracts. Browse all capabilities →

Media Asset Management

BC-3710

JobsOutputs

POST /jobs GET /outputs/{output_id}

Kin Score

Kin Score How this is scored →
scored 2026-11-06 · rubric v0.27.0

Composite quality — 50.7/100 · developing

Contract Quality 10.5 / 19

Developer Ergonomics 10.6 / 15

Access Clarity 5.1 / 15

Operational Transparency 4.1 / 10

Contract Governance 1.6 / 9

Discoverability 5.5 / 8

Regulatory Posture 3.7 / 15

Create-or-Update Ergonomics 0.0 / 10

Agent readiness — 36/100 · agent ready

Machine-Readable Contract 18 / 18

Agentic Access Contract 10 / 10

Documented Reversibility 6 / 6

MCP Server 0 / 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

A2A Agent Card 0 / 8

Dry-Run / Simulate Mode 4 / 4

Delegated User Identity 0 / 6

Protected Resource Metadata 0 / 5

Registration Without a Human 0 / 6

Agentic Commerce Well-Known Document 0 / 5

Pagination 5 / 5

Distinct Operations 3 / 3

MCP Tool Quality 6 / 6

Regulatory Posture applies to this provider. Its tags matched the Horizontal (data, software, accessibility, platform) regime, so Regulatory Posture carries 15 points of the composite. If this regime is wrong for your business, say so on your provider repo — the applicability map is public and we will correct it.

Create-or-Update Ergonomics applies to this provider. This API accepts writes, so it carries 10 points of the composite. It is scored from the published contracts themselves: whether a caller can create-or-update in one call, whether the write accepts a key the caller already holds, and whether the response says which branch ran. Without that, every write needs a search-and-branch in front of it, and the first time that check is skipped a duplicate record is created. Scored against the observed mean rather than raw — a provider at the catalog average is unchanged by this facet, not penalised by it.

The six quality facets above are damped to 75 points between them, because the conditional facet above carries the other 25. That is why each facet's contribution is shown against a damped maximum: raising a quality facet moves the composite by 75% of its nominal weight, not 100%. The full arithmetic is at apis.io/rating/.

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Agent readiness — checks not met, largest first (exact, from this profile):

MCP Server +12 pts — deployment.mode + probe verdict on the mcp/ manifest, not the pointer; an unprobed slug falls back to authorship
Idempotency +9 pts — OpenAPI mutating operations declare an idempotency key — a header, a request-body property, or a named de-duplication token whose own description says so (verified); else common[].type matches /idempoten/i (documented)
A2A Agent Card +8 pts — a2a/-a2a.yml manifest, graded on conformance.grade against A2A 1.0.0
Rate-Limit Signaling +7 pts — OpenAPI responses document X-RateLimit-* / RateLimit headers (verified), else a rate_limits artifact or RateLimits link (documented)
Request/Response Examples +7 pts — share of operations carrying request/response examples; else an Examples / Code Samples link
Registration Without a Human +6 pts — a `registration_endpoint` in the served RFC 8414 / OIDC discovery document

5 more unmet checks in the Agent Readiness table above.

Kin Score — facets with the most composite points still available (weight × headroom):

Access Clarity scores 34.2 — up to +13.2 composite points
Contract Quality scores 56.1 — up to +11.0 composite points
Contract Governance scores 18.2 — up to +9.8 composite points

Each check links to what satisfies it. Publish the artifact, or tell us where it already lives, and the score moves on the next scoring run.

Improve this rating by publishing the missing artifacts — every area above can be raised, and the full rubric is at apis.io/rating/. Every facet and dimension name above is a link: it opens that measurement's own page — what it means, the exact checks that feed it, how the whole catalog distributes on it, and the providers at the top of it. This rating is computed from the provider profile at artifacts.apis.io/zencoder/apis.yml: open an issue on github.com/api-evangelist/zencoder to ask a question or point us at an artifact you publish. Submit an artifact on GitHub — free → Manage your own listing — the Influence plan, $499/mo →

Markets this provider is in provisional

The Kin Score Market layer reads a provider inside its market: its position, and how deep its integrations go. Depth is only comparable within a position. Provisional and unweighted: not part of the Kin Score or agent readiness.

Market	Position	Depth	Registered MCP server	Declares compatibility
Streaming Video and Media Delivery	distribution	28.8	-	1

Registered MCP server and declares compatibility are report only — not weighted. Undeclared means we found nothing we can read, so there is no number: we never infer integrations.

Standards implemented 1

Standards this provider implements or carries. De facto ones are profiled and measured by the API Commons; formal ones come from the standards directory and are linked by the provider's own tags. The evidence column says how each claim was established — not that it was made.

OpenAPI

measured — observed by APIs.io (published)

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.

Open Collections 5

Open, tool-agnostic API collections (OpenAPI-derived and Bruno).

Zencoder Accounts API

OPEN COLLECTION

Zencoder Accounts Inputs API

OPEN COLLECTION

Zencoder Accounts Jobs API

OPEN COLLECTION

Zencoder Accounts Outputs API

OPEN COLLECTION

Zencoder Accounts Reports API

OPEN COLLECTION

Agent Skills 3

Packaged agent skills for driving this provider's APIs from an AI assistant.

Cancel or resubmit an encoding job

AGENT SKILL

Encode a video and monitor it to completion

AGENT SKILL

Pull Zencoder usage and minutes reports

AGENT SKILL

Event Specifications 1

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

Zencoder Notifications Webhooks

ASYNCAPI

Spectral Rules 1

Spectral governance rulesets for linting and validating these APIs.

Zencoder API Rules

50 rules · 42 errors 5 warnings 3 info

SPECTRAL

OpenAPI Overlays 1

Overlays applied on top of this provider's contracts. Each card says who wrote it: a document the provider publishes, or one API Evangelist derived or generated.

Zencoder Openapi Overlay

2 actions · update · zencoder-openapi-original.yml

DERIVED

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

AGENTIC

Resources

Get Started 5

Portal, sign-up, and the first successful call

DeveloperPortal

DeveloperPortal

GettingStarted

GettingStarted

SignUp

SignUp

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

X-MCPServerCandidate

AgentSkill

AgenticAccess

LLMsTxt

Design & Contract 6

Pagination, idempotency, versioning, errors, and events

Conventions

ErrorCatalog

Lifecycle

DataModel

Conformance

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 3

Properties that don't map to a standard resource type

ParentCompany

ParentCompany

CapabilityMap

CapabilityMap

Overlay

Overlay

Source (apis.yml)

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
deliveryModel:
  model: saas
  open_source: false
  commercial: true
  callable_host: true
  label: Hosted service · you call their endpoint
  confidence: high
  source:
  - openapi
  - pricing
  generated: '2026-08-28'
  method: derived
accessModel:
  pricing: unknown
  onboarding: unknown
  trial: false
  try_now: false
  public: false
  label: Unknown
  confidence: low
  source:
  - authentication
  - security
  - sandbox
  - url: https://zencoder.com
    status: 301
    note: declared website redirects to https://www.brightcove.com/solutions/zencoder?utm_source=zencoder.com — a different
      registrable domain (zencoder.com -> brightcove.com), possible rename or acquisition (probed 2026-09-03, roadmap#169)
  generated: '2026-11-06'
  method: derived
specificationVersion: '0.23'
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:
  - Account
  tags_raw:
  - 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:
  - Job
  tags_raw:
  - 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: ParentCompany
  url: https://apis.io/providers/brightcove/
  name: Brightcove
  x-relationship: acquired
  x-evidence: 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.
- type: CapabilityMap
  url: capabilities/zencoder-capability-edges.yml
  name: Zencoder Business Capability Map
- 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: X-MCPServerCandidate
  url: mcp/zencoder-mcp.yml
  note: 'Renamed from MCPServer 2026-09-03 (roadmap#247): the manifest self-describes as status: candidate — a tool list derived
    from the published API contracts, not an existing server. The scorer already read the manifest and reported mcp_server
    correctly; the MCPServer type was crediting the artifact-type surfaces with a server that does not exist.'
- 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

Zencoder API — frequently asked questions

Does Zencoder have an API?

Yes. APIs.io lists 5 APIs from Zencoder, including Zencoder Accounts API, Zencoder Inputs API and Zencoder Jobs API, and 2 more.

Is there an OpenAPI specification for the Zencoder API?

Yes. APIs.io indexes 5 OpenAPI specifications for Zencoder, each linked for download from this page.

How do I authenticate with the Zencoder API?

Zencoder uses bearer-token authentication (apiKey · 1 scheme). The details are profiled on APIs.io as Zencoder Authentication.

Is the Zencoder API ready for AI agents?

Zencoder has a Kin Score of 50.7 out of 100 (developing) and an Agent Readiness score of 36.2 (agent-ready), scored by API Evangelist on 2026-11-06.

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