# Cloudflare Stream [[Cloudflare]] Stream is a managed video platform: upload a source file or live RTMP feed, get back an adaptive-bitrate HLS/DASH manifest playable via a drop-in `<iframe>` or any HLS player, distributed across Cloudflare's network. Transcoding, packaging, thumbnail generation, captions, and analytics are bundled. It's the Cloudflare answer to Mux, Wowza, and Vimeo's API: you pay for minutes stored ($5 per 1,000 minutes, prepaid) and minutes delivered ($1 per 1,000 minutes). Ingest and encoding are free, bandwidth is included, no SKUs to assemble, no separate CDN to wire up. ## Why It Matters DIY video means FFmpeg pipelines, HLS packager (Shaka/Bento4), a CDN to serve segments, a player to integrate, and analytics to instrument. Stream collapses all of that into "POST a file." For any app shipping video — courses, social features, recorded demos — Stream removes weeks of infra work. ## Core Capabilities - **Adaptive bitrate** transcoding (multiple renditions, ABR ladders) - **HLS + DASH** outputs with built-in DRM available - **Live streaming** via RTMPS/SRT input, plus WebRTC (WHIP/WHEP) for ultra-low latency; WebRTC is going GA and its delivery gets billed from October 15, 2026 - **Embed player** (`<iframe>`) with customization, or BYO player against the manifest URL - **Stream Connect** for re-streaming live to external destinations (YouTube, Twitch) - **Per-video signing** for paid/private content - **Captions and subtitles** with auto-generation - **Workers bindings** (May 2026): upload, manage videos, create direct upload links and sign playback tokens from a [[Cloudflare Workers|Worker]] without API calls; a Media Transformations binding (March 2026) handles video transforms in Workers ## Common Use Cases - **Course platforms** — upload videos, embed in app - **Live events** with low-latency HLS - **User-generated video** at scale without GCS/Mux/Bunny.net cost - **Internal demo libraries** with access control via signed URLs ## References - Stream home: https://www.cloudflare.com/products/cloudflare-stream/ - Documentation: https://developers.cloudflare.com/stream/ - Pricing: https://developers.cloudflare.com/stream/pricing/ - Changelog, Media Transformations binding (2026-03-18): https://developers.cloudflare.com/changelog/post/2026-03-18-media-transformations-workers-binding/ - Changelog, Stream bindings for Workers (2026-05-07): https://developers.cloudflare.com/changelog/post/2026-05-07-stream-workers-binding/ ## Related - [[Cloudflare]] - [[Cloudflare R2]] - [[Cloudflare Workers]] - [[Cloudflare Pages]]