Microsoft Invest hosted video: 1.8 GB limit and bitrate ladder

Microsoft Invest's video creative guidelines set a 1.8 GB limit for hosted video creatives, a recommended minimum of 1280 by 720 pixels and 2500 kbps, and list a bitrate for each frame height. Sume renders and trims to those sizes, but it does not expose a bitrate, so the ladder is a transcode you run after the cut.

The ladder

Microsoft says hosted videos should follow the ladder below, and it lists a long set of accepted file types from 3G2 to WebM and WMV. VAST 2.0 and higher is supported.

Where Sume fits

Sume's Timeline 1.0 renders sizes from 256 to 2160 on each side, so the 720, 1080 and 2160 rungs are all reachable as source sizes, and the minimum of 1280 by 720 is easy. Video trim exact re-encodes to H.264 in MP4, one of Microsoft's accepted types.

Pricing from the docs: $0.10 per output minute rounded up on Timeline, and $0.02 per trim job.

What it cannot do

No bitrate field exists: the trim docs say the server compiles ffmpeg and rejects codec and crf. You cannot ask for 8000 kbps at 1280. Render at the top size you need, then let a transcoder, or Microsoft's own hosted pipeline, produce the ladder.

Do not assume Microsoft re-encodes for you. The page describes what to supply and says nothing here about automatic transcoding of hosted files, so ask your account team if you plan to upload a single file.