Media services: choosing the right one

The services at a glance

The Media Services category of the exam covers two services. They solve different problems: converting stored video files and ingesting live video streams. Each service name links to its own tutorial.

Service	What it does	Status
Amazon Elastic Transcoder	Converts (transcodes) media files in S3 into formats for phones, tablets, and browsers	Discontinued on November 13, 2025; use AWS Elemental MediaConvert
Amazon Kinesis Video Streams	Streams live video from cameras and devices to AWS for storage, playback, and analysis	Available

The one choice to make

• Is the video a file or a live stream?
  • A file in S3 that needs other formats or bitrates points to transcoding. In AWS today that is MediaConvert; older questions may name Elastic Transcoder, which was discontinued on November 13, 2025. MediaConvert takes files from S3 or HTTPHTTP (Hypertext Transfer Protocol)The protocol that web browsers and APIs use to send requests, such as GET and POST, and receive responses. On its own it is not encrypted; HTTPS adds TLS.Glossary entryClose(S) as input, not live streams.
  • Live video from devices, such as security cameras, drones, or smartphones, that must be stored, played back, or analyzed points to Kinesis Video Streams.
• For real-time two-way video between browsers and devices, use Kinesis Video Streams with WebRTC. HLS and DASH playback is one-way and typically 3 to 5 seconds behind live.
• To convert footage stored in a Kinesis video stream, export the time range as an MP4 file with GetClip, save it to S3, and transcode it with MediaConvert.
• To deliver converted videos privately, serve the S3 bucket through CloudFront with origin access controlOAC (Origin access control)The recommended way to let a CloudFront distribution read from a private S3 bucket: CloudFront signs its requests, and the bucket policy allows only that distribution. It replaces the older origin access identity (OAI).Glossary entryClose, and use signed cookies for HLS output with many segment files (see Amazon CloudFront).

Reverse mindmap: from the question to the service

• Video files
  • Convert videos in S3 for different devices→ leads to MediaConvert (Elastic Transcoder only in older questions)
  • Adaptive bitrate outputs, captions, DRM→ leads to MediaConvert
  • Subscribers-only HLS from a private bucket→ leads to CloudFront with OAC and signed cookies
• Live video
  • Stream camera video into AWS→ leads to Kinesis Video Streams
  • Play back live or recorded streams→ leads to Kinesis Video Streams with HLS or DASH
  • Export a time range as a video file→ leads to GetClip, then MediaConvert from S3
  • Two-way, low-latency video in a browser or app→ leads to Kinesis Video Streams with WebRTC
  • Analyze frames with ML→ leads to Kinesis Video Streams image extraction, then the Rekognition Image API or SageMaker AI (Rekognition stream processors are closed to new customers)

Key takeaways

• Elastic Transcoder converted media files; it was discontinued on November 13, 2025, and MediaConvert replaces it.
• Kinesis Video Streams ingests, stores, and plays back live video from devices, and supports WebRTC for real-time two-way streaming.
• "File in S3" points to transcoding; "live camera" points to Kinesis Video Streams.

Sources

• AWS Certification: SAA-C03 in-scope AWS services
• AWS for M&E Blog: Support for Amazon Elastic Transcoder ending soon
• AWS Elemental MediaConvert User Guide: What is AWS Elemental MediaConvert?
• AWS Elemental MediaConvert User Guide: How to allow or disallow input location types
• Amazon Kinesis Video Streams Developer Guide: What is Amazon Kinesis Video Streams?
• Amazon Kinesis Video Streams Developer Guide: Kinesis Video Streams playback
• Amazon Kinesis Video Streams with WebRTC Developer Guide: What is Kinesis Video Streams with WebRTC?
• Amazon CloudFront Developer Guide: Decide to use signed URLs or signed cookies