Help Center/ Video On Demand/ API Reference/ Media Asset Upload/ Pulling Media Files from URLs (in OBT)
Updated on 2026-01-16 GMT+08:00

Pulling Media Files from URLs (in OBT)

Function

This API is used to pull a source media file from its URL into VOD. This method is applicable to files smaller than 5 TB. If the file size exceeds 5 TB, you need to use a migration tool to upload the file to VOD. Submit a service ticket to obtain the tool and operations guide.

Constraints

  • A maximum of 16 audio/video clips can be pulled at a time by calling this API.

  • When a URL is used to pull an M3U8 file, the URL cannot contain authentication parameters such as hotlink protection.

Authorization Information

Each account has all the permissions required to call all APIs, but IAM users must be assigned the required permissions. For details about the required permissions, see Permissions Policies and Supported Actions.

URI

POST /v1.0/{project_id}/asset/upload_by_url

Table 1 Path Parameters

Parameter

Mandatory

Type

Description

project_id

Yes

String

Project ID. For details about how to obtain the project ID, see Obtaining a Project ID.

Request Parameters

Table 2 Request header parameters

Parameter

Mandatory

Type

Description

X-Auth-Token

No

String

User token. This parameter is mandatory when token authentication is used.

It can be obtained by calling the IAM API used to obtain a user token. The value of X-Subject-Token in the response header is the user token.

Authorization

No

String

Authentication information. This parameter is mandatory for AK/SK authentication.

X-Sdk-Date

No

String

Time when a request is sent. This parameter is mandatory for AK/SK authentication.

Table 3 Request body parameters

Parameter

Mandatory

Type

Description

upload_metadatas

Yes

Array of UploadMetaDataByUrl objects

Metadata of a media asset to be created.

Table 4 UploadMetaDataByUrl

Parameter

Mandatory

Type

Description

video_type

Yes

String

Uploaded audio/video file format.

The options include:

  • Video: MP4, TS, MOV, MXF, MPG, FLV, WMV, AVI, M4V, F4V, MPEG, 3GP, ASF, MKV, WebM, and M3U8

  • Audio: MP3, OGG, WAV, WMA, APE, FLAC, AAC, AC3, MMF, AMR, M4A, M4R, WV, and MP2

If an audio file is uploaded, transcoding, watermarking, and subtitling are not supported.

title

Yes

String

Media asset title. The value is UTF-8 encoded and contains a maximum of 128 characters.

url

Yes

String

URL of the audio or video file to be pulled.

NOTE:
The URL must end with a file name extension. Currently, only HTTP and HTTPS are supported. HTTPS is more secure than HTTP and is recommended. Do not include sensitive information such as authentication credentials in the URL.

description

No

String

Video description. The value contains a maximum of 1024 characters.

category_id

No

Integer

Media asset category ID.

You can create a media asset category by calling the API for creating a media asset category or on the VOD console and obtain the category ID.

NOTE:
If this parameter is not specified or is set to -1, the uploaded audio/video files fall into the preconfigured Other category.

tags

No

String

Video tags.

Each tag contains up to 24 characters and up to 16 tags are allowed.

Use commas (,) to separate tags. All tags must be UTF-8 encoded.

auto_publish

No

Integer

Whether to publish the content automatically.

The options include:

  • 0: The content is not automatically published.

  • 1: The content is automatically published.

Default value: 1

template_group_name

No

String

Transcoding template group name.

If this parameter is specified, the specified transcoding template is used to transcode the uploaded audio/video. You can configure a transcoding template on the VOD console. For details, see "Transcoding Settings" in VOD User Guide.

NOTE:
If both template_group_name and workflow_name are specified, template_group_name takes effect.

auto_encrypt

No

Integer

Whether to automatically encrypt a file.

The options include:

  • 0: not encrypted

  • 1: encrypted

Default value: 0. If encryption is required, a transcoding template must be configured and the transcoded output format must be HLS.

auto_preheat

No

Integer

Whether to automatically pre-load content to CDN.

The options include:

  • 0: The content is not automatically pre-loaded.

  • 1: The content is automatically pre-loaded.

Default value: 0

thumbnail

No

Thumbnail object

Snapshot parameters.

Note: You will be billed for the snapshots generated. To avoid snapshot costs, you can leave these parameters unspecified.

review

No

Review object

Media asset review parameters.

NOTE:
Only VOD in AP-Singapore supports this function.

workflow_name

No

String

Workflow name.

If this parameter is specified, the specified workflow is used to transcode the uploaded audio/video. You can configure a workflow on the VOD console. For details, see "Transcoding Settings" in VOD User Guide.

Table 5 Thumbnail

Parameter

Mandatory

Type

Description

type

Yes

String

Snapshot capturing mode.

The options include:

  • time: Snapshots are captured by interval.

  • dots: Snapshots are captured at a specified time point.

  • quantity: Snapshots are captured based on the specified quantity and video duration.

quantity

No

Integer

This parameter is mandatory when type is set to quantity. Snapshots are captured based on the specified quantity and video duration.

Value range: an integer ranging from 1 to 10

quantity_time

No

Integer

This parameter is optional when type is set to quantity. Snapshots are captured based on the specified quantity at a specified interval.

Value range: an integer ranging from 0 to 2147483647

time

No

Integer

Interval at which snapshots are captured. Unit: seconds

This parameter is available when type is set to time.

Default value: 12

Value range: an integer ranging from 0 to 100

dots

No

Array of integers

This parameter is mandatory when type is set to dots. Array of time points when snapshots are captured.

cover_position

No

Integer

The value indicates which snapshot is specified as the thumbnail.

Default value: 1

format

No

Integer

Snapshot file format.

The options include:

  • 1: jpg

Default value: 1

aspect_ratio

No

Integer

Aspect ratio.

The options include:

  • 0: adaptive (the original aspect ratio is retained)

  • 1: 16:9

Default value: 0

max_length

No

Integer

The longest side of a snapshot.

Unit: pixel

The width of the snapshot is scaled proportionally with the longest side and input video pixel.

Default value: 480

Table 6 Review

Parameter

Mandatory

Type

Description

template_id

No

String

Review template ID. You can obtain the value after configuring the review template on the VOD console. For details, see "Review Settings" in VOD User Guide.

NOTE:
Only VOD in AP-Singapore supports this function.

interval

No

Integer

Snapshot check interval. The value range is (0,100]. This parameter is ignored in request parameters.

politics

No

Integer

Confidence of politically sensitive content moderation. The value can be -1 or range from 0 to 100. This parameter is ignored in request parameters.

A higher confidence score indicates a more reliable moderation result. If this function is disabled or the value is set to 0, this check is not performed. politics, terrorism, and porn cannot be set to 0 simultaneously.

terrorism

No

Integer

Confidence of terrorism-related content moderation. The value can be -1 or range from 0 to 100. This parameter is ignored in request parameters.

A higher confidence score indicates a more reliable moderation result. If this function is disabled or the value is set to 0, this check is not performed. politics, terrorism, and porn cannot be set to 0 simultaneously.

porn

No

Integer

Confidence of pornographic content moderation. The value can be -1 or range from 0 to 100. This parameter is ignored in request parameters.

A higher confidence score indicates a more reliable moderation result. If this function is disabled or the value is set to 0, this check is not performed. politics, terrorism, and porn cannot be set to 0 simultaneously.

Response Parameters

Status code: 200

Table 7 Response body parameters

Parameter

Type

Description

upload_assets

Array of UploadAsset objects

Metadata of a media asset to be created.

Table 8 UploadAsset

Parameter

Type

Description

url

String

URL of the audio or video file to be pulled.

asset_id

String

ID of the new media asset.

error_code

String

Error code.

error_msg

String

Error description.

Status code: 400

Table 9 Response body parameters

Parameter

Type

Description

error_code

String

Error code.

error_msg

String

Error description.

Example Requests

This example creates a media file using the URL pull mode. It pulls a media file offline from its URL and uploads it to VOD.

POST https://{endpoint}/v1.0/{project_id}/asset/upload_by_url

Content-Type: application/json
{
  "upload_metadatas": [
    {
      "url": "https://mpc-test.obs.cn-north-4.myhuaweicloud.com/Avatar_480P.mp4",
      "title": "Avatar test test",
      "video_type": "MP4",
      "description": "Avatar, test",
      "category_id": 1,
      "tags": "mytags",
      "auto_publish": 1
    },
    {
      "url": "https://mpc-test.obs.cn-north-4.myhuaweicloud.com/Avatar_720.mp4",
      "title": "Avatar test test",
      "video_type": "MP4",
      "description": "Avatar, test",
      "category_id": 1,
      "tags": "mytags",
      "auto_publish": 1
    }
  ]
}

Example Responses

Status code: 200

Returned when the request succeeded.

{
  "upload_assets" : [ {
    "url" : "https://mpc-test.obs.cn-north-4.myhuaweicloud.com/Avatar_480P.mp4",
    "asset_id" : "f488337c31c8e4622f1590735b134c65",
    "error_code" : null,
    "error_msg" : null
  }, {
    "url" : "https://mpc-test.obs.cn-north-4.myhuaweicloud.com/Avatar_720.mp4",
    "asset_id" : "f488337c31c8e4622f1590525b134c65",
    "error_code" : null,
    "error_msg" : null
  } ]
}

Status code: 400

Returned when the request failed.

{
  "error_code" : "VOD.10003",
  "error_msg" : "The specified key does not exist."
}

Status Codes

Status Code

Description

200

Returned when the request succeeded.

400

Returned when the request failed.

Error Codes

See Error Codes.