Keep HLS and DASH playlists synchronized with live updates and new content automatically.
Refresh HLS/DASH Playlists maintains up-to-date manifest files for your adaptive bitrate streams. When new segments are added (from live transcoding), quality variants change, or content requires updates, this feature automatically regenerates and distributes playlist manifests to CDNs and edge nodes without disrupting playback.
refresh_playlist: 1 to an HLS or DASH output in your transcoding request.callback_url to receive updates when the playlist changes, or poll /v1/status with the task token.Lower bandwidth and storage expenses without compromising quality.
Automate complex processing that would take hours manually.
Handle thousands of videos with the same API call.
Simple REST API with comprehensive SDKs and documentation.
A streaming platform adds new bitrate variants to existing content based on viewer demand patterns. Without playlist refresh, new quality options remain invisible to playback clients.
Playlist refresh deploys new variants in under 30 seconds, allowing viewers to switch quality within 2-3 segments without rebuffering.
A live sports broadcast has unexpected audio sync issues in one variant. Engineering fixes the source, but the old playlist is still cached on thousands of edge nodes.
Automatic playlist refresh propagates corrections in real-time, with fallback validation ensuring viewers never receive broken streams.
A user-generated content platform receives 50,000 new uploads daily. Each requires new HLS and DASH manifests to be published to the global CDN for immediate playback.
Batch playlist refresh handles all 50K manifests in minutes, supporting millions of concurrent playback requests with cache coherence.
Watch a quick walkthrough showing how to configure and use Refresh HLS/DASH Playlists through the Qencode dashboard and API.
| API Method | POST /v1/start_encode2 after creating a task with POST /v1/create_task. |
| Key Parameters | source, encoder_version: 2, output: "advanced_hls" or DASH output, refresh_playlist: 1, stream, optional callback_url. |
| Supported Outputs | HLS and DASH adaptive bitrate outputs. |
| Default Value | refresh_playlist: 0 disabled. |
| Enabled Value | refresh_playlist: 1 enabled. |
| Monitoring | Use callback_url to receive HTTP callbacks when the master playlist is updated, or poll /v1/status. |
| Callback Details | Stream callbacks include task token, event, callback_type: "stream", status, errors if any, and updated playlist URLs. |
Produces HLS output JSON with refresh playlist enabled
{
"query": {
"source": "https://your-storage.com/source.mov",
"encoder_version": 2,
"callback_url": "https://yourcallback.url/callback",
"format": [
{
"output": "advanced_hls",
"refresh_playlist": 1,
"stream": [
{"audio_bitrate": "128", "size": "640x360"},
{"audio_bitrate": "128", "size": "852x480"},
{"audio_bitrate": "320", "size": "1280x720"},
{"audio_bitrate": "320", "size": "1920x1080"}
]
}
]
}
}
Copy this payload and use it with your API key to test Playlist Refresh on your own video.
View Playlist Refresh TutorialIncluded with Transcoding
Playlist Refresh is available for all Qencode users. It updates HLS or DASH playlists during encoding as each resolution becomes available, with no separate feature fee.
We love creating powerful solutions that are aligned with the needs of your business.
Please send us a message if you have a question or Schedule a call for a demo to discuss your integration.
Contact us with any questions. We'd love to help.
Los Angeles, CA - (HQ)
San Francisco, CA
New York, NY