4 Questions To Ask When Determining The Right Video API For You

There are a number of video APIs out there.  What's the difference among them -- and how can you easily determine which is right for you?

Do you need live video or asynchronous video recording?

Live video and recorded video recordings are built on completely different technologies.  That's why video APIs tend to specialize in either live video or recorded, asynchronous video.  It's also why live video APIs that have a recorded video component tend to be less successful with creating a superior recorded video experience.  Tokbox, for instance, specializes in live video.  Ziggeo, on the other hand, specializes in recorded videos.  That said, the speed that certain video APIs transcodes videos so they can immediately be played back can simulate almost live interactions.   It should be noted that live video APIs that also try to tackle recorded video tend to deliver poor recorded video experiences. It's best to go with video APIs that specialize in either live video or recorded video -- whichever is more important to your application.

Do you need a visual recognition API?

Certain APIs like Clarifai specialize in visual recognition -- that is, they recognize what exactly is in a photograph (e.g. a puppy or a particular person you have trained the system to recognize).  See more here about visual recognition APIs.

Do you need a video editing API?

Certain video APIs focus on editing videos or mashing videos together.  Stupeflix, for instance, is one such video API.

Does a particular video API play well with others?

Certain video APIs integrate seamlessly into your system so they interact well with other APIs. For instance, Ziggeo's video recorder and video player can easily be mated with a visual recognition API and a video editing API.  And the open-source BetaJS framework is an ideal video framework that can easily work with any component.