Create HLS streams

“Chalkboard” (a course platform like Teachable) hosts 2-hour lectures. Students on slow connections need adaptive bitrate streaming — the player adjusts quality based on bandwidth.

API

ittybit adaptive \
  -i https://chalkboard-app.com/courses/cs101/lecture-1.mov \
  --format hls \
  --cloud

const task = {
  input: "https://chalkboard-app.com/courses/cs101/lecture-1.mov",
  kind: "adaptive_video",
  options: {
    format: "hls",
  },
};

const res = await fetch("https://api.ittybit.com/tasks", {
  method: "POST",
  headers: {
    Authorization: `Bearer ${process.env.ITTYBIT_API_KEY}`,
    "Content-Type": "application/json",
  },
  body: JSON.stringify(task),
});
const data = await res.json();

import requests

task = {
    "input": "https://chalkboard-app.com/courses/cs101/lecture-1.mov",
    "kind": "adaptive_video",
    "options": {
        "format": "hls",
    },
}

res = requests.post(
    "https://api.ittybit.com/tasks",
    headers={"Authorization": f"Bearer {api_key}"},
    json=task,
)
data = res.json()

TASK='{
  "input": "https://chalkboard-app.com/courses/cs101/lecture-1.mov",
  "kind": "adaptive_video",
  "options": {
    "format": "hls"
  }
}'

curl -X POST https://api.ittybit.com/tasks \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $ITTYBIT_API_KEY" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d "$TASK"

This produces an HLS manifest (.m3u8) with multiple quality variants. The player picks the right one automatically.

CLI

ittybit adaptive \
  -i lecture-1.mov \
  -o lecture-1.m3u8

Trim before streaming

Only need the first 30 minutes of a 2-hour recording:

ittybit adaptive \
  -i lecture-1.mov \
  -o lecture-1.m3u8 \
  --start 0 \
  --end 1800

When to use HLS

Scenario	Format
Long-form content (lectures, webinars)	HLS
Short clips (< 2 min)	MP4
Downloads / offline	MP4
Live-ish playback on varied connections	HLS

For short videos, a single MP4 is simpler and works everywhere. HLS pays off when content is long and viewers have varying bandwidth.