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When upgrading to 5.10, the new and improved transcode system is automatically used. The old transcode system can still be used in 5.10, but it will be deprecated in later releases.

If you are a consultant, please see DC 5.10 Formats - Migration for more information on how the migration to the new transcode system is handled and things to be aware of in relation to this migration.

This page describes the most important breaking changes related to the new transcode system.

EXIF

In the previous version of the old transcode system, it was possible to embed EXIF metadata in the generated renditions/transcodes. This is not supported in the new transcode system.

Note EXIF data can still be extracted from physical files. See DC 5.10 Configuration of upload metadata tags for more information on this.

Old media formats

After updating to 5.10, at most 200 additional media formats in the old transcode system can be created. If a format in the new transcode can not be used to cover your use case and you need to create an old media format after upgrading to 5.10, please reach out to R&D to share your use case. Ideally, the new transcode system should be able to accommodate your use case.

API and SDK users

It has been ensured that the automatic switch to the new transcode system is seamless in all applications and integrations developed by Digizuite. However, the new transcode system has a few caveats to be aware of for anyone who uses the Digizuite API or SDK.

  1. Handling of unavailable renditions.

  2. Search2.

  3. New thumbnail formats.

  4. Source formats.

Handling of unavailable renditions

Previously, asset streamer URLs would never be returned for renditions that hadn’t been generated yet. However, with the new transcode system, asset streamer URLs are returned for renditions that can be generated but are not necessarily ready yet.

This is relevant for the URLs returned in the following cases:

  • SDK: All URLs in the AssetResponse class returned from the services IAssetSearchService and IAssetService.

  • API: All URLs returned in responses from the endpoints prefixed with <api-url>/DigizuiteCore/LegacyService/api/assets. Additionally, it is relevant for URLs returned from Search2 searches at <api-url>/dmm3bwsv3/SearchService.js.

By default, when requesting a rendition of an asset with the asset streamer, the request will not terminate before the rendition is available. This process can take a while. If you do not want to wait for renditions to become available, it is possible to get a fallback image returned with the HTTP status code 202 if the requested rendition is not immediately available. This can be done in the following way:

  • SDK: Set the mode argument to GetRenditionBehavior.GetFallbackImageIfUnavailable in the INewAssetStreamerService.GetAssetDownloadStream method.

  • API: Add the query parameter mode=getFallbackImageIfUnavailable to asset streamer requests prefixed with <api-url>/DigizuiteCore/LegacyService/api/assetstream.

Note that most modern browsers limit the maximum number of simultaneous HTTP connections. Thus, if you show a lot of renditions simultaneously (e.g. thumbnails in an asset list), strongly consider using the mode argument to limit the number of simultaneous HTTP connections. Please be careful that you do not cache the fallback image as the requested image.

If you are using the SDK, be aware that the default HTTP client used by the SDK has a timeout of 100 seconds. Thus, if you request a rendition that takes more than 100 seconds to become available with the INewAssetStreamerService.GetAssetDownloadStream method, your request will time out before the rendition is returned. To disable this timeout, use the following setup in your application startup logic:

services.AddHttpClient(DigizuiteApiConstants.HttpClientName)
    .ConfigureHttpClient(c => c.Timeout = Timeout.InfiniteTimeSpan);

Note that this removes the default timeout of 100 seconds from all HTTP request performed with the SDK. However, it is still possible to control the timeout per-request by passing a cancellation token to the used SDK method. The effective timeout is always the smallest of the passed cancellation token and the timeout configured for the HTTP client used by the SDK.

Search2

Search2 is being deprecated, and it is highly advised to start using the new API or the SDK.

If you are still using Search2, please be aware of the following:

  • Search2 allows the tables media_transcode_proxy_destination and media_transcode_proxy to be referenced in both input and output, providing access to information about renditions. Information about renditions generated with the new transcode system can not be accessed through these tables.

  • Search2 allows URLs for renditions of old media formats to be retrieved with the functions urlAbsolut, urlRelative, downloadUrlAbsolut, and downloadUrlRelative. It has been ensured that this still works, even if the targeted old media format has been mapped to a new format. If an old media format has not been mapped to a new format, these functions work in exactly the same way as previously. However, a few caveats should be mentioned in the case where an old media format is mapped to a new format:

    • A URL is always returned, even though a rendition of the asset in the old media format can not be generated. As an example, this means that a thumb URL is included for an asset in the default GetAssets search, even if it can not be generated. Previously, the thumb URL would be null in this case. Thus, it must be ensured that clients do no rely on the URL in a search to be null when it can't be generated.

    • If the urlRelative or downloadUrlRelative function is used, the returned relative URL will be relative to <api-url> instead of <api-url>/dmm3bwsv3 as it was before.

If the caveats above are addressed, Search2 can still be used to retrieve valid URLs for old media formats that have been mapped to new formats, ensuring that the new transcode system is used. However, it is generally recommended to start rewriting applications that use Search2 to use the new API or SDK instead. If this is not possible, it is still possible to opt-out of using the new transcode system by ensuring that no old media formats are mapped to new formats. However, be aware that this will not be supported in future releases.

New thumbnail formats

With the 5.10 release, the thumbnail and preview formats that are defined out of the box have been reworked. By default, this is handled automatically and no manual actions should be required.

The main difference between the old and the new thumbnail formats is that they are now webp files with transparency. The old thumbnails were jpeg files without transparency.

Note that the thumbnails for existing assets are not automatically re-generated. If the existing thumbnails should be re-generated, this can be done by setting up an automation that uses the “Generate asset renditions” step with the “Force generate” flag enabled.

Since the file type of the thumbnails has been changed, the asset streamer returns the response header Content-Type: image/webp instead of the correct response header Content-Type: image/jpeg for existing thumbnails. Most browsers should be able to display the thumbnails despite of this. If it becomes an issue, the existing thumbnails can either be re-generated as described above, or the thumbnail formats can be modified to be of the type jpeg.

Source formats

The new transcode system now supports a special SourceFormat that can be used to refer to and get the source files of assets. A special “Original” format of this type is now defined out-of-the-box. If you have previously hard-coded the “Original” format in a list of available download qualities, this can lead to two “Original” formats being shown. It should no longer be necessary to have any special-case handling for getting source formats.

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