Bento4
Headless MP4, DASH, HLS and CMAF packaging with CENC DRM, driven over SSH.
Bento4 is a fast, open-source C++ toolkit and command-line SDK for reading, writing and packaging ISO-MP4 media. It is the workhorse behind countless streaming pipelines: fragment MP4s for adaptive delivery, package to MPEG-DASH, Apple HLS, CMAF and Smooth Streaming, and encrypt with CENC / Common Encryption for Widevine, PlayReady, FairPlay, Marlin and PRIMETIME DRM.
Key features
- MP4 inspection and editing: mp4dump, mp4info, mp4edit, mp4extract, mp4tag
- Adaptive packaging: mp4fragment, mp4dash (DASH + HLS), mp42hls, mp42ts
- CENC / Common Encryption for DRM: mp4encrypt / mp4decrypt with per-track KID:KEY
- Elementary-stream and container conversion: mp42aac, mp42avc, mp42hevc, mp4mux
- Full Python SDK utilities (mp4-dash, mp4-hls) installed under /opt/bento4
Use cases
- Origin-side packaging of VOD assets to DASH/HLS/CMAF close to your viewers
- Applying CENC DRM (Widevine/PlayReady/FairPlay) before delivery
- Batch MP4 inspection, repair, fragmentation and remux in a CI/CD or cron pipeline
Why run it on the NetActuate edge Packaging and encrypting at a PoP near your storage and viewers shortens the path for large media transfers and keeps your masters and DRM keys on infrastructure you control.
This is a HEADLESS appliance: there is no web console. The full Bento4 CLI/SDK is on the system PATH; sign in over SSH and run the tools. The appliance also serves a co-located landing/instructions page over HTTP (default port 80) that documents the commands and shows a first-boot self-check (an mp4dump version probe plus a real fragment+HLS packaging of a bundled sample); the page fails closed with HTTP 503 if the toolchain is not healthy. A ready-to-use sample MP4 ships at /var/lib/bento4/sample.mp4.
Frequently asked questions
How do I deploy Bento4 on NetActuate?
Use the Deploy on NetActuate button to talk to our team. We provision Bento4 on a NetActuate virtual machine in the point of presence you choose, close to your audience. Each deployment runs in the single location you select.
What does it cost to run Bento4?
Bento4 is open-source software and free to run on the marketplace - you pay only for the NetActuate compute (virtual-machine size and location) it runs on, at standard rates. There are no usage-based software fees.
Where can Bento4 run?
Bento4 can be deployed in any of NetActuate's 45+ points of presence across every continent, so you can place ingest, transcode, delivery and caching close to your contributors and viewers.
Who supports Bento4?
NetActuate operates and supports the underlying infrastructure - the virtual machine, network and edge platform. The application itself is supported by its upstream open-source project.
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