CMAF ingest in AWS Elemental MediaPackage - AWS Elemental MediaPackage v2

CMAF ingest in AWS Elemental MediaPackage

AWS Elemental MediaPackage Version 2 (v2) supports CMAF ingest. CMAF ingest delivers content to viewers in multiple streaming formats from a single ingest workflow. CMAF ingest provides flexibility and features to optimize your streaming experience.

The topics in this section cover CMAF ingest.

Choosing a MediaLive output group for MediaPackage CMAF ingest

When configuring AWS Elemental MediaLive to send content to MediaPackage, you can choose between two output group types for CMAF ingest. Your choice affects which capabilities are available for stream control and presentation in your streaming workflow.

When to use each output group

Use this guidance to determine the output group that best fits your streaming requirements:

When to use CMAF Ingest output group
  • You have a simpler workflow that doesn't require custom stream ordering or naming

  • You want to configure the system simply with minimal setup

  • Stream order and custom properties are not critical for your use case

When to use MediaPackage output group
  • You need additional passthrough capabilities for stream metadata

  • You want to preserve the exact order of streams as configured in MediaLive

  • You need enhanced control over stream presentation and properties

How each output group works

CMAF Ingest output group

The CMAF Ingest output group provides straightforward CMAF ingest with minimal configuration. MediaPackage extracts metadata from the initialization segments and uses MP4 segments to generate manifests. This output group requires simpler setup but provides standard stream handling.

MediaPackage output group

The MediaPackage output group enables additional passthrough capabilities and desired stream ordering when customers choose this output group instead of the CMAF Ingest output group. This provides enhanced control over how streams are presented in output manifests.

The following table compares the capabilities available with each MediaLive output group:

Capability comparison between MediaLive output groups
Capability CMAF Ingest Output Group MediaPackage Output Group
Stream order preservation Standard (alphabetical order in output manifest) Enhanced (preserves desired stream ordering)
Stream metadata passthrough Standard Enhanced (additional passthrough capabilities)
Setup complexity Simple More configuration options

Enhanced CMAF capabilities with MediaPackage output groups

When using the MediaPackage output group in MediaLive, AWS Elemental MediaPackage provides additional passthrough capabilities and desired stream ordering. These enhanced capabilities give you greater control over how streams are presented to viewers in your streaming applications.

Stream ordering preservation

When you choose the MediaPackage output group in MediaLive, the desired stream ordering configured in MediaLive is preserved in the output manifests. This allows you to control how different video, audio, and subtitle streams appear to viewers.

Stream ordering preservation helps you:

  • Ensure viewers start with your intended default streams

  • Present quality choices in your preferred order

  • Organize streams logically for better viewer navigation

Additional passthrough capabilities

The MediaPackage output group provides additional passthrough capabilities that enable enhanced stream metadata to be preserved from MediaLive to the output manifests.

These capabilities support:

  • Enhanced stream identification and presentation

  • Improved viewer experience through better stream organization

  • More control over how streams appear in player interfaces