What is a Video API and How to Use It in 2025
A Video API lets developers add video features without building a full media stack. In 2025, teams use a video API to start and stop live streams, route inputs to many outputs, record, and monitor quality in real time. This guide explains the concept, key capabilities, and shows how Callaba’s Video API can power production-grade workflows.
What is a Video API?
A Video API is an interface (usually REST or WebSocket) that exposes core video operations as endpoints. Instead of managing encoders, transcoders, and players directly, you call the API to control them programmatically.
Core capabilities of a modern Video API
- Stream control: create, start, stop, and delete live streams.
- Routing: push one input to multiple outputs (CDN, social platforms, private endpoints).
- Transcoding: set codecs, bitrates, resolutions, ABR ladders.
- Monitoring: get health metrics, status, errors, and logs.
- Recording and VOD: record live streams, publish for playback.
- Access control: keys, tokens, signed playback, roles.
How a Video API works
Clients authenticate with a key or token, send commands to create or control streams, subscribe to status updates, and read metrics. Under the hood, the platform handles ingest (for example, SRT, RTMP, WHIP), processing, and delivery.
Callaba Video API: start, stop, route, monitor
Below are example requests that illustrate typical operations. Endpoints are shown for clarity; check your instance for exact paths and fields.
Read the Video Api full documentation
Quick start: implement in 10 minutes
- Launch Callaba Video API (in the cloud or install on-premise), Create an API key in Callaba Dashboard and restrict it by IP or role.
- Provision an ingest (for example, SRT or RTMP) and name the stream.
- Call start to go live and enable recording if needed.
- Attach destinations with a routes call for multistream output.
- Poll metrics or subscribe to events to watch health and errors.
- Call stop and publish the recording to VOD.
Security and access control
- Use short-lived tokens (JWT) for server-to-server calls.
- Scope keys by role (admin, operator, viewer) and by project.
- Use signed playback URLs for private HLS.
- Log all API calls for audits and incident review.
Use cases in 2025
- Event platforms: auto start/stop by schedule, multistream to public and private endpoints.
- SaaS products: embed live and recording features without running encoders.
- OTT and media: ABR ladders, 24/7 channels, monitoring dashboards.
- Enterprises: internal town halls with private delivery and access policies.
- Agencies: manage many clients programmatically with routing and presets.
Best practices
- Define presets for resolutions, bitrates, and codecs to keep outputs consistent.
- Set alerts for bitrate drops, disconnects, and output failures.
- Record to a resilient storage target and verify file growth during live.
- Separate prod and staging keys; rotate keys on a schedule.
- Measure end-to-end latency and viewer QoE, not just encoder health.
FAQ: Video API
What is a Video API?
It is a set of endpoints that control ingest, processing, routing, recording, and delivery of video.
How is a Video API used with live streaming?
You create a stream, start it, route outputs, watch metrics, and stop it, all by API calls integrated into your app or backend.
Can one stream be sent to many platforms?
Yes. Use routing to push the same input to multiple destinations such as a CDN, HLS output, or social RTMP.
What metrics should I monitor?
Bitrate, fps, resolution, dropped frames, disconnects, and per-destination state. Track errors and set alerts.
Is recording controlled via the API?
Yes. You can start with recording enabled or toggle recording for compliance and VOD publishing.
Conclusion
A Video API turns complex streaming operations into simple, reliable calls. With Callaba’s Video API you can start and stop streams, route to many outputs, monitor health, and publish recordings at scale. Build once, then automate every live workflow your product needs.
