Cloudflare Stream MP4 downloads need enabling; Sume returns the file

On Cloudflare Stream an MP4 download does not exist until you ask for one: you POST to the downloads endpoint, then poll until its status is ready. A finished Sume media job works the other way: its result carries a video_url for a durable MP4 on media.sume.com, so there is no enabling step, though you still poll the job until the result is ready.

Cloudflare's steps are from its MP4 downloads page, read 2026-10-03. Sume's come from video trim and Timeline 1.0.

The two flows

Both end with a file URL, but the waiting happens in different places.

Why the difference exists

Stream stores videos for adaptive playback, so a plain MP4 is an extra product made on request. The page does not state the resolution of the generated MP4, so check the file you get. Sume's tools run ffmpeg to produce a file as the job output, so the MP4 is the product.

Sume gives you a new artifact URL each time and never overwrites the source.

Waiting for a Sume result

Trim, filter and detach default to async mode. Pass mode: "sync" to wait up to 30 seconds for a finished job, or you get 202 and poll. A timeline render has the same pattern. When result_ready, the result is kind: video_trim, video_filter or timeline_render with video_url and duration_seconds.

Send an Idempotency-Key on each write so that a retry returns the same job rather than starting a second paid one.

• Trim is $0.02 a job.
• Timeline is $0.10 per rounded-up output minute.
• Timeline output defaults to 1080 by 1920.

Moving the file on

If the next stop is Cloudflare, give Stream the Sume URL with its upload-via-link route, as long as the URL is a direct file. Cloudflare's limits and its fetch behavior are in its own docs, so read them for your plan.

What to store

Keep the artifact URL from the Sume result rather than a provider URL, as Sume's media docs advise for integrations. For Cloudflare, keep the video id and the download URL once its status is ready.

Storing both lets you tell which file came from which system when a customer asks where a clip came from.

Checking what you received

After either flow, open the file and read its properties: dimensions, frame rate and length. Cloudflare's page does not state the resolution of its generated MP4. Sume's trim result gives duration_seconds and actual_start_seconds, and the timeline result gives duration_seconds and segment_count.

Put those fields in your logs so you can tell, later, what each file was meant to be.