Web Ready Video

The webReady recipe optimizes videos for web delivery — browser playback, embeds, and social sharing — without obvious quality loss. Xora probes the source first, then picks the cheapest path that still meets your goals.

How it decides

Source condition	Strategy
H.264 video, AAC/MP3 audio, MP4/MOV container, reasonable bitrate, and faststart already present	passthrough: return your original input URL — no ffmpeg run
Browser-compatible source, faststart missing, no explicit encode settings	faststart_remux: stream-copy and move MP4 metadata to the front
Unsupported codec/container, high bitrate, or explicit encode settings (crf, bitrateKbps, scaleDown, width, height)	web_encode: H.264/AAC MP4 with fast-decode settings and one keyframe per second

Note

For timeline editing proxies (always re-encode, optional all-intra keyframes), use the proxy recipe instead.

Basic usage

cURL

curl -X POST https://api.xora.sh/v1/jobs \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer YOUR_API_KEY" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{
    "mode": "recipe",
    "input": {
      "url": "https://example.com/upload.mov"
    },
    "output": {
      "format": "mp4"
    },
    "recipe": {
      "name": "webReady"
    }
  }'

Node.js

const response = await fetch('https://api.xora.sh/v1/jobs', {
  method: 'POST',
  headers: {
    'Authorization': 'Bearer YOUR_API_KEY',
    'Content-Type': 'application/json'
  },
  body: JSON.stringify({
    mode: 'recipe',
    input: { url: 'https://example.com/upload.mov' },
    output: { format: 'mp4' },
    recipe: { name: 'webReady' }
  })
});

Python

import requests

response = requests.post(
    "https://api.xora.sh/v1/jobs",
    headers={
        "Authorization": "Bearer YOUR_API_KEY",
        "Content-Type": "application/json"
    },
    json={
        "mode": "recipe",
        "input": {"url": "https://example.com/upload.mov"},
        "output": {"format": "mp4"},
        "recipe": {"name": "webReady"}
    }
)

Smaller web delivery (720p)

Setting encode options forces a re-encode even when the source is browser-compatible:

{
  "mode": "recipe",
  "input": { "url": "https://example.com/large-upload.mp4" },
  "output": { "format": "mp4" },
  "recipe": {
    "name": "webReady",
    "scaleDown": true,
    "height": 720,
    "crf": 26
  }
}

Parameters

Parameter	Type	Required	Default	Description
name	string	Yes	—	Must be "webReady"
scaleDown	boolean	No	false	Downscale when re-encoding. Ignored on passthrough/remux paths.
width	number	No	auto	Output width when scaling
height	number	No	720	Output height when scaleDown is true
crf	number	No	26	Quality when re-encoding (lower = higher quality)
bitrateKbps	number	No	—	Target video bitrate; overrides CRF when set
startSeconds	number	No	—	Optional start offset in seconds
durationSeconds	number	No	—	Optional duration limit in seconds

Output format

webReady requires MP4 output:

"output": { "format": "mp4" }

When to use webReady vs proxy vs compress

Use webReady when…	Use proxy when…	Use compress when…
Web playback and sharing	Timeline editing and scrubbing	You always want a CRF-controlled re-encode
Source may already be web-ready	You always want re-encode	No passthrough/remux shortcuts
Optional smaller delivery via CRF/scale	Optional all-intra keyframes	Predictable encode every time