Offline packaging

The File Packager is a command-line tool that packages on-demand media files into a format that can stream over HTTP. The File Packager can also encrypt files for protection with Adobe Access.

Packaging on-demand media

File Packager location

The File Packager is available from the following locations:

• Adobe Media Server rootinstall/tools/f4fpackager folder

The File Packager requires several libraries to run. These libraries are located in the f4fpackager folder. To move the File Packager, move the f4fpackager folder and all its contents.

Input file formats and output file formats

To stream on-demand media over HTTP, process the file with the File Packager. The File Packager parses the content, translates it into segments and fragments, and writes the segments and fragments to the F4F format. You can also choose to have the File Packager encrypt the content for use with Adobe Access.

The File Packager supports the following file formats:

• F4V/MP4 compatible files

• FLV

The File Packager outputs the following files:

Segments And Fragments

An F4F file contains one segment of a media file. Each segment can contain multiple fragments. Use the --segment-duration and --fragment-duration options to set the length of each segment and fragment, in seconds. Specifying a segment-duration greater than 0 will create multiple files. A good size fragment is small enough to send over the internet and long enough to prevent multiple calls to Apache HTTP Server.

Run The File Packager

To package a file, pass the File Packager the name of the input file.

There are two ways to specify the name:

• Enter the --input-file option at the command line.

• Create a configuration file that specifies the input file and enter the --conf-file option at the command line.

Package content on Windows

Package content on Linux

Packaging multi-bitrate content

To stream multi-bitrate content, encode a piece of media at multiple bitrates, creating multiple files. Use the File Packager to process each media file individually. The media files share a manifest file that lists information about each media file. The OSMF Player uses this information for playback.

About packaging multi-bitrate files

Each time you run the File Packager, it creates a manifest file with the filename of the input file. When you pass the --manifest-file option, the File Packager adds the information from the manifest file you specify to the manifest file it creates. For example, suppose you run the following:--input-file=sample1.f4v

The tool creates the files: sample1Seg1.f4f, sample1.f4x, and sample1.f4m.

Suppose you then run the following:

The tool creates the files sample2Seg1.f4f, sample2.f4x, and sample2.f4m. The manifest file sample2.f4m contains information about sample2.f4v and sample1.f4v.

To create a manifest file for multi-bitrate content, pass the --manifest-file option and specify the manifest file of the previously processed file. Package the files from lowest bitrate to highest bitrate. Do not pass the --manifest-file option for the first file you process.

Package multi-bitrate files

Packaging and encrypting content

Use the File Packager to both package and encrypt content for use with Adobe Access.

Adobe Access includes a license server implementation based on the Adobe Access SDK called Adobe® Access™ Server for Protected Streaming. Adobe Access Server for Protected Streaming is designed for use with HTTP Dynamic Streaming. For more information about this Adobe Access, see Adobe Access documentation.

Generate a common key

To use the File Packager to encrypt content, you must generate a common key file. The common key file must contain 128 bytes of randomly generated data. The File Packager uses this key with the content ID to generate the content encryption key.

You can use the open source tool Open SSL or Adobe’s Scramble utility to generate random data and output a common key file. Download Open SSL from www.openssl.org.

Generate random data and output a common key file:

Pass commonKey.bin as the --common-key command line option or in the <common-key> element of a configuration file.

Use a configuration file to package and encrypt content

Many command-line options are required to encrypt a file. It’s easier to use a configuration file to set options than it is to set options at the command line.

Use the command line to package and encrypt content

Updating DRM information

Broadcasters who use different license servers for testing and production, package the content individually for each license server causing bottlenecks during testing and publishing. The f4fpackager enhancements enable broadcasters to package content only once using multiple Adobe Access license servers.

The packager enhancements include updates to various DRM parameters, such as license server URL, license server certificate, and usage policies using a new command-line option.

You can also use the update-drm-info option to generate a new manifest file with updated DRM metadata from the source manifest file. When you pass this option to the packager, repackaging of the original content is not performed. The remaining contents of the generated manifest file are similar to those of the source manifest file.

Update DRM information using the command line

To generate multiple manifest files that contain different license server URLs embedded in the DRM metadata, follow this workflow:

Update DRM information using configuration parameters

You can use a configuration file to package and encrypt content. The following snippet shows the sample values for the f4fpackager_config.xml file:

You can use the previously mentioned workflow to update encryption parameters in the DRM metadata of the source manifest file (including license server URL, license server certificate, and usage policies). You cannot use this method to update encryption parameters, such as content ID and common key. You shouldn’t update content ID and CEK in the DRM metadata because they are unique.

File Packager reference

Command-line options to fragment files

You can use the command line to set all the options for the File Packager. Options set at the command line override any options set in the configuration file. The only required option is --input-file.

Setting fragment duration based on frames or time

The File Packager has options that determine the size of fragments. There is a frame-based option, --keyframe-interval-per-fragment, and a time-based option, --fragment-duration. Each option has additional options that refine how the tool creates fragments.

Use the frame-based option when the source media contains video encoded at a constant frame rate. The frame-based option lets you carefully match the fragment size to the video's keyframe interval. Use the time-based option for media that contains audio or data but not video.

Frame-based options: --keyframe-interval-per-fragment, --frames-per-keyframe-interval, --frame-rate, --frame-precision. Time-based options: --fragment-duration, --duration-precision. The frame- based option overrides the time-based option. If you don't provide a --keyframe-interval-per-fragment option, the File Packager uses the --fragment-duration option. If you don't provide values for --keyframe-interval-per-fragment or --fragment-duration, the File Packager uses the default fragment duration, which is 4 seconds.

Command-line options to encrypt files

Use the File Packager to encrypt files for use with Adobe Access. Some of the following options require digital certificates. To obtain digital certificates, see the Adobe Access Certificate Enrollment Site.

A month before a DRM certificate expires, the server generates a relevant message in the Apache error logs and on the console. The message is generated only when content is requested by a client and the frequency of this message is only once per hour.

File Packager configuration file

The File Packager uses an XML configuration file to read values for command-line options. The default configuration file, f4fpackager_config.xml, is located in the same directory as the File Packager. It is often easier to specify options in a text file that you can reuse than it is to enter options at the command line.

Options you set at the command line override options set in the configuration file. This feature lets you create a configuration file for a set of content but edit a few settings for individual files.

Enter the --conf-file option at the command line to pass the name and location of a configuration file. If you don’t enter the --conf-file option, the tool checks for a file called f4fpackager_config.xml file in the same directory as the tool.

You can enter all the options for packaging and encrypting, including the input file, in the configuration file.

The following is the format of the configuration file:

For options that take a path, you can specify absolute paths or paths relative to the directory containing the tool.

Errors

The File Packager outputs the following errors:

Offline packaging for HLS

The Adobe Media Server installation includes a command line tool for packaging on-demand media files into fragmented video content that can be streamed over HTTP. This offline packager can also encrypt files for protection with Adobe Access.

The hlspackager is the command line tool that takes F4V source and produces fragmented HLS VOD content. You can pass various options to the packager either through the command line or through a configuration file. However, options passed through the command line will override the corresponding options specified in the configuration file.

note: The packager can recognize only F4Vand MP4 files.

The packager tool generates several types of output files during the packaging process. They are:

• m3u8 file (single-stream playlist)

• TS segments listed in the m3u8 file

The following command shows the syntax of hlspackager:

The various supported options are described in the following table:

Instead of passing the options along with the command, you can also pass a configuration file containing the options to the packager. The configuration file is an XML file that can be used to specify settings for the packaging process.

The packager checks whether a configuration file has been passed by the user. If not, it checks for the hlspackager_config.xml file in the same directory as the command-line program. The configuration file is not needed to run the packager. The format of the configuration file is:<offline> <input-file>/media/input-file.f4v</input-file> <output-path>/media/http</output-path> <media-target-duration></media-target-duration> ... other options... </offline>

Hosting and key generation

You can host the fragmented content directly from the server’s webroot directory. For instance, if you keep the fragmented content inside the webroot/myOfflineContent/ directory, you can playback the content through the URL - http://server-name/myOfflineContent/prog_index.m3u8.

Key generation for Vanilla content

The content fragmentation for the Vanilla encryption protection scheme will take base-64 encoded key as input. To generate the base-64 encoded key, run the OpenSSL command as shown below:openssl rand -out keyfile.bin -base64 16

The generated keyfile.bin file has the base-64 key and can be used for content fragmentation. To generate the key for hosting, run:openssl base64 -d -in keyfile.bin -out plain-keyfile.bin

The plain-keyfile.bin file can be hosted for key delivery.

Key generation for Adobe Access content

To generate the base-64 encoded key, run the OpenSSL command as shown below:openssl rand -out keyfile.bin -base64 16

Error codes

The following table describes the various error codes raised by the packager:

Licensing configurations and restrictions (HDS and HLS)

You can add a license path by adding the license-path element. This element must contain the path to the license directory in Adobe Media Server. If the value is not explicitly specified, ‘../../’ will be assumed as the license path considering that the offline packagers for both HDS and HLS are in the tools directoy.The path specified by the license-path element in the configuration file can be absolute or relative to the directory containing the offline packagers. For instance:<license-path>C:\Program Files\Adobe\Adobe Media Server 5\</license-path>