# Introduction to Video Center

Source: https://dev.arcxp.com/video-center/introduction-to-video-center/

This document provides a feature overview of Video Center and includes links to relevant documentation

Video Center enables you to upload, version, encode, clip, and manage videos using the Arc XP UI. You can also create live streams and integrate external video services. Video Center adopts the Arc XP Native Specification (ANS) schema to add details and metadata to videos, including:

- Publication End Date
- Keywords (for SEO)
- Related content
- Ads configuration

> **Note:**
> 
> For more information about video details and metadata, see [Getting started with Video Center](https://docs.arcxp.com/en/products/video-center/getting-started-with-video-center.html) on Arc XP product documentation.

## Supported formats and codecs

Video Center accepts the following container formats and codecs for Video On Demand (VOD):

| Container format      | Video Codecs                                                                                                                                                              | Audio Codecs                                                               |
| --------------------- | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | -------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| **mp4** (recommended) | AV1, AVC (H.264), AVC-Intra, DivX/Xvid, H.261, H.262, H.263, HEVC (H.265), JPEG 2000 (J2K), MPEG-2, MPEG-4 part 2, VC-1, VP9, Uncompressed                                | AAC, Dolby Digital (AC3), Dolby Digital Plus (EAC3), FLAC, PCM, WMA, WMA2  |
| **mov**               | Apple ProRes, AVC (H.264), AVC-Intra, DivX/Xvid, DV/DVCPRO, H.261, H.262, H.263, HEVC (H.265), JPEG 2000 (J2K), MJPEG, MPEG-2, MPEG-4 part 2, QuickTime RLE, Uncompressed | AAC, MP3, PCM                                                              |
| **mpg**               | MPEG-1, MPEG-2                                                                                                                                                            | AAC, AIFF, Dolby Digital (AC3), Dolby Digital Plus (EAC3), MPEG Audio, PCM |

> **Tip:**
> 
> The [Video API](https://dev.arcxp.com/api/content-administration/video-center-api/) enables you to import videos using the ANS schema. See [How to write the minimum ANS for a viable video document](https://dev.arcxp.com/concepts/content-model-ans/how-to-write-the-minimum-ans-for-a-viable-video-document).

## Video Center features

This section provides an overview of Video Center’s more advanced features.

### Live streams

Video Center enables you to schedule events and create live streams. You must contact [Arc XP Customer Support](https://support.arcpublishing.com/) to provision the live streaming feature in your Arc XP environments. To set up a live stream, you must also provide an encoder that outputs HLS or RTMP streams. For more information, see [Getting started with live video in Video Center](https://docs.arcxp.com/en/products/video-center/getting-started-with-live-video-in-video-center.html).

### Virtual channels

With Video Center you can use the videos you already have in Video Center to create 24/7 streaming experiences, with native in-stream advertising before and after each video. For more information, see [How to use virtual channels](https://docs.arcxp.com/en/products/video-center/getting-started-with-live-video-in-video-center/video-center---how-to-use-virtual-channels.html).

### Ad insertion

Video Center supports dynamic ad insertion through AWS Media Services MediaTailor into your VOD and live streams. You must specify a URL template for the Ad Decision Server URL. For more information, see [Setting up dynamic ad insertion in Video Center](https://docs.arcxp.com/en/products/video-center/getting-started-with-live-video-in-video-center/setting-up-dynamic-ad-insertion-in-video-center.html).

### Closed captions

Video Center uses `.srt` files to generate closed captions. You can also sync videos with external CC providers.

### Geographic restrictions

You can enable geographic restrictions for individual videos or entire video categories by changing the Global Settings of your Arc XP organization. For more information, see [Managing geographic restrictions](https://docs.arcxp.com/en/products/arc-xp-administration/global-settings/managing-geographic-restrictions.html).

## Video Center player (PoWa player)

The PoWa player is the default Arc XP video player. You can customize the PoWa player by adding CSS styling attributes to fit with your organization’s branding. For more information, see [Video Center player container](https://dev.arcxp.com/video-center/developer-docs/video-center-player-container) and [Video Center player settings](https://dev.arcxp.com/video-center/developer-docs/video-center-player-settings).

Arc XP video blocks and components use the PoWa video player by default. If you are using Arc XP Blocks, you can take the video block and the video component as a starting point to further customize your video experience. For more information, see [Components and blocks storybook](https://dev.arcxp.com/themes/developer-docs/components-and-blocks-storybook/) and [Ejecting (forking) an Arc XP block](https://dev.arcxp.com/themes/developer-docs/ejecting-an-arc-block/).

## Video APIs

Video Center has two APIs, one for content administration and one for public content retrieval. The content administration [Video Center API](https://dev.arcxp.com/api/content-administration/video-center-api/) enables you to do the following:

- **Import videos programmatically**
- **Regenerate video URLs**
- **Delete videos**

The public content retrieval [Video API](https://dev.arcxp.com/api/public-content-retrieval/video-api-public/) is a read-only API that enables you to retrieve video content from Video Center.