1 hour 4K HDR → 1080p + 720p SDR
$3.36 outputs = $3.36.
With enough unused standard-output allowance: $0.00.
Pricing
Pricing
Pay only for the versions you deliver. No input fee. Each delivered version is priced per minute, with Economy, Standard and Fast speed tiers and listed output extras. Delivery includes a customer-sized fair-use allowance; hosted storage is priced separately. Your storage provider bills its own storage and delivery. Jobs with no delivered output are not billed.
Pricing
Pay only for the versions you deliver. No input fee.
Economy packs jobs onto spare capacity, Standard shares the node, and Fast runs solo on the node at top priority.
One hour of 1080p video to five H.264 rungs (1080p, 720p, 480p, 360p, 240p): $5.52 at Standard list price, with no input fee.
Delivery sizes in these examples illustrate the rate card. Use the output sizes and recipes published for your account; they are not additional API profile names.
| Tier | Output minute / rendition |
|---|---|
| SD Below 720p | $0.012 |
| HD 720–1080p | $0.028 |
| UHD 1081–2160p | $0.056 |
Resolution uses height for landscape, width for portrait. 720p is HD: $0.028 per output minute. The $0.012 output rate applies below 720p.
Automatic monthly volume discounts need no commitment. Paid output minutes per customer per UTC calendar month are priced marginally: first 50,000 at list, the next 450,000 at 15% off, the next 4,500,000 at 30% off, and minutes above 5,000,000 at 45% off. Output extras receive the same discount; there is no source charge. Free output minutes and job-wide audio charges do not advance the bands. Audio charges receive no volume discount.
Highlight detail
+10%
Optional texture enhancement on tone-mapped output minutes. Standard and Fast only; off by default.
HEVC / VP9 output
+50%
On each HEVC or VP9 version.
AV1 output
+50%
On each AV1 version.
31–60 fps output
+25%
On affected output minutes.
61–120 fps output
+50%
On affected output minutes.
Each audio track beyond the first stereo track adds $0.004 per source minute. Each 5.1 surround track (AAC or E-AC-3) adds $0.008 per source minute instead of the extra-track rate. Audio is charged once per job across all video renditions, with the selected speed multiplier, without free allowance or volume discounts. Watermark is included at no charge.
Highlight detail, codec and frame-rate extras add to the base output rate. Speed applies once to the complete version price, after additive extras and before volume discounts. HDR-to-SDR conversion and studio master inputs are included; HDR10 and HLG versions can share an HLS ladder with SDR versions; HDR versions use HEVC pricing; supplied SDR grades carry no input fee. Above 120 fps or above UHD: request a quote.
| Speed | Price multiplier | Speed and features |
|---|---|---|
| economy | 0.75× | Packed onto spare capacity at lowest scheduling priority. No turnaround guarantee. SDR H.264 + AAC only, MP4/HLS up to 1080p. No HDR, DASH/CMAF, captions, thumbnails/sprites, multi-audio/5.1, watermark, per-title, DRM, progressive delivery or MediaConvert endpoint. |
| standard | 1.00× | Shared node processing by default. All account-enabled features. |
| fast | 1.40× | Solo job on the node at top priority. All account-enabled features. |
Standard and Fast include HDR conversion and the 99.5% public SLA; 99.9% is available by order form. Economy and free usage have no SLA. Every tier includes a stereo audio track and delivery to your storage; the premium buys managed processing without assembling the workflow yourself.
DRM is enabled per account with your HTTPS SPEKE v2 key server and qualified workers. It uses SPEKE v2 and CENC cbcs for H.264/AAC VOD ladders. Test protected playback on your target players before switching. Encrypted versions add 25% of the base output price. HLS/DASH packaging, caption conversion, thumbnail JPEGs and sprite previews carry no separate charge. Standard and Fast jobs can include preview images and clear VOD I-frame playlists when live job options offer them. Contact us about automatic captions or per-title workflows.
See the arithmetic
90-second 1080p SDR phone clip → 1080p + 720p
$0.084 outputs = $0.084.
With enough unused standard-output allowance: $0.00.
1 hour 1080p → five H.264 rungs
$5.52 outputs = $5.52.
With enough unused standard-output allowance: $0.00.
Estimate your usage
Delivered output minutes, using price-book-v7. Default example: one 60-minute HD source and five standard outputs, including 720p at the HD rate.
Audio charges use source minutes once per job, across all video renditions. Each 5.1 track takes the surround rate instead of the extra stereo rate. Audio receives no free allowance or volume discount. Watermark is included.
$5.52 outputs + $0.00 audio = $5.52. Paid output minutes: 300.
Assumes ordinary input formats and full-length outputs. Smaller sources are not enlarged; conversion keeps source geometry within 5% of the selected target. No input fee or tone-mapping extra. Account-specific services use the listed extras. This estimate excludes DRM (+25% of the output base), Highlight detail (+10% on tone-mapped outputs) and negotiated commitment terms.
Choose how you buy
Pay as you go
The rate card above. 1,000 standard SDR H.264 output minutes, up to 30 fps, included each UTC calendar month. No input fee applies to any job.
Start encoding →Automatic volume
Monthly marginal discounts apply automatically, without a commitment, on the same rate card.
Estimate your usage →Enterprise
Commitment discounts available with an annual commitment or prepayment. Custom limits, invoicing, security review and support terms. Talk to sales about committed volume and purchasing terms.
Talk to sales →How billing works
No input fee. Every delivered rendition contributes its own output minutes. A ten-minute source with two full-length outputs produces twenty output minutes. The same output tiers apply to every rendition. The rate and pricing version recorded when your job is accepted govern silken’s usage ledger and spend calculations. silken calculates the charge; your payment provider bills it.
Allowance applies only to standard SDR H.264 outputs at up to 30 fps. Economy and Standard are eligible; Fast is chargeable. Tone mapping is included. Highlight detail, HEVC, VP9, AV1, high-frame-rate and Fast output minutes remain chargeable. Allowance is shared across eligible outputs, in settlement order.
We measure delivered output duration to microseconds and round each charge up to a microdollar. Card billing sums those microdollars. Admission reserves an upper bound; final settlement uses measured output geometry and the accepted speed tier.
Complete-file jobs bill only delivered outputs. Partial ladders bill successful outputs only. Failed jobs with no delivered output bill zero. Progressive encoding bills the published prefix, independently of viewer watch time.
Delivery includes a customer-sized fair-use allowance; hosted storage is priced separately. Your storage provider bills its own storage and delivery.
Enterprise commitment terms are sales-led arrangements. Pricing version: price-book-v7. Existing jobs retain the price book accepted with their job.