Audio / video processing API

Your media processing pipeline, simplified to an API call.

Vid Kraken transcodes audio and video — MP3, MP4, WAV, WebM and more — and delivers the output straight into your own storage: S3-compatible buckets, Google Cloud Storage, and friends. No FFmpeg builds, no worker queues, and your files never live with us.

Get your API key See the API

Plans from $20/month · Cancel anytime

POST /v1/jobs200 OK

$ curl -X POST api.vidkraken.dev/v1/jobs \

-H "Authorization: Bearer vk_live_••••" \

-d '{

aac → mp3 · 320k

{

"id": "job_8f3c21",

"status": "complete",

"duration": 212.4,

"output": "s3://acme-media/podcasts/8f3c21.mp3"

}

How it works

One request, one file back. The pipeline is our problem.

01
Send a URL
POST the source URL with your output format and quality. Uploads, recordings, exports — any direct media link you have rights to.
POST /v1/jobs { "source": "…", "format": "mp3" }
02
We fetch and transcode
Vid Kraken pulls the source, extracts the streams, and transcodes on managed workers. Identical requests dedupe automatically.
status: queued → fetching → transcoding
03
Delivered to your storage
Output lands directly in the bucket you choose — S3-compatible or Google Cloud Storage — with full metadata attached. A webhook confirms the moment it arrives.
job.completed → s3://your-bucket/out/…

Features

Everything the pipeline needs, nothing you have to build.

Every format that matters

MP3, M4A, WAV, FLAC for audio. MP4 and WebM for video, up to 4K. Pick a bitrate or resolution per job — we handle the codec details.

Webhooks that behave

Get a signed job.completed event the moment a file lands. Deliveries retry with backoff, and every payload is verifiable.

Metadata included

Title, duration, thumbnails, and chapters come back as structured JSON with every job. No second request, no scraping.

Your storage, not ours

Outputs are written directly to your S3-compatible bucket or Google Cloud Storage. Your files never sit on our servers — we keep nothing after delivery.

Safe to retry

Jobs are idempotent — send the same request twice and you get the same job, not a duplicate charge. Failures return a clear error and cost nothing.

Quotas you can read

Live usage and remaining quota are always visible on your dashboard, and limit errors come back as clear, typed responses. Predictable throughput, no surprise 429 walls.

Developers

Shipping takes an afternoon, not a sprint.

A REST API with typed SDKs for Node.js and Python. Create a job, point it at your bucket, get a webhook when the file lands — that's the whole integration. Errors are documented, versioned, and never change shape under you.

OpenAPI spec for every endpoint
Sandbox keys with instant test jobs
Versioned API — no silent breaking changes

curl -X POST https://api.vidkraken.dev/v1/jobs \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $VIDKRAKEN_KEY" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{
    "source": "https://example.com/raw/interview.mov",
    "format": "mp3",
    "bitrate": "320k",
    "destination": "s3://acme-media/podcasts/",
    "webhook_url": "https://example.com/hooks/vidkraken"
  }'

Pricing

Pay for jobs, not for idle servers.

Every plan includes the full API. Failed jobs are never billed, and you can change or cancel plans at any time.

Starter

For a single app in production.

$99per month

1,000 downloads / month ($0.10 each)
400 GB bandwidth, actual file size
Additional usage: $0.10/download, $0.50/GB
Email support

Start with Starter

Growth

Scale

For platforms processing at volume.

$1,499per month

60,000 downloads / month ($0.025 each)
10 TB bandwidth, actual file size
Additional usage: $0.025/download, $0.30/GB
Priority support, same-day response

Start with Scale

Custom

Committed download volume at negotiated rates — custom formats and workflow integrations, dedicated support channel.

Talk to us

FAQ

Questions, answered.

What sources can Vid Kraken process?

Direct links to video and audio files in most common containers — MP4, MOV, MKV, WebM, MP3, WAV and more. You are responsible for having the rights to process the content you submit — the API enforces our acceptable-use policy.

Where do processed files end up?

In your own storage. Every job writes its output directly to the destination you specify — an S3-compatible bucket, Google Cloud Storage, and similar. We hold only a transient working copy during processing and delete it once delivery is confirmed, so your media never lives on our servers.

Is there a limit on source length or size?

Sources up to 6 hours or 8 GB are supported on every paid plan. Longer sources are processed in segments — talk to us if you regularly work with more.

What happens when a job fails?

You get a structured error with a documented code — source unavailable, region-locked, unsupported codec — and the job is not billed. Transient failures retry automatically before we report them.

How fast are jobs?

Most audio jobs finish in a few seconds; video depends on length and output resolution. Pro and Custom plans run on priority queues, and webhooks fire the moment a file lands.

Which plan should I start with?

Lite covers a single app in production with 5,000 jobs a month. Pro is built for products where media processing is the core workload, with 100,000 jobs a month at half the per-job rate. If you expect to go beyond that, talk to us about a Custom plan.