Asset Compute | Allow for disabling OOTB rendition processing in asset-compute for fast time-to -market for large videos

Provide configuration in AEM as a Cloud Service to control or disable the default video preview rendition (cq5dam.preview.mp4) generated by the standard Asset Compute processing pipeline.

Today, cq5dam.preview.mp4 is created automatically for all supported video assets as part of the default Asset Compute processing profile and cannot be turned off by customers. We need a supported way to:

• Disable this preview rendition entirely (per program/folder), or
• Constrain it by file size/duration/resolution, or
• Mark individual assets/folders as “do not generate preview MP4”.

The main driver is to reduce time-to-publish for large live content where downstream workflows depend on the original master, not on an internal preview proxy.

Customers ingest very large, high‑resolution video masters (e.g. 1 to 15 GB 4K MOV files) into AEMaaCS Assets in near real time during live events (e.g. sports, automotive races, concerts). Typical workflow:

• Camera operators upload large master clips from the field to AEM.
• Editors and content teams need those masters available as quickly as possible for:
  • Fast publishing of “good enough” versions to web or apps.
  • Distribution of raw footage to journalists and partners.
  • Triggering downstream workflows (e.g. external transcoding, media asset management, social syndication), which all depend on the original video.

In this scenario:

• The original master is the primary asset for downstream systems.
• The internal AEM preview MP4 is nice-to-have but not essential for immediate operations.
• Long-running preview transcodes delay time-to-publish and block or slow down workflows that need to move as fast as the live event.

A secondary use-case is more traditional asset management:

• Central storage and governance of high‑res source assets.
• Optional Dynamic Media encodes/delivery created via explicit video profiles.

But the core problem remains: these use cases do not always need AEM’s default preview MP4, especially for very large footage, and yet they must “pay” the full processing cost (in terms of time) for it.

Product behavior (by design)

• AEM as a Cloud Service uses a standard Asset Compute processing profile to generate a fixed set of renditions for every asset (thumbnails, web JPEG, zoom, metadata, preview PDF, text extraction, smart tags, and cq5dam.preview.mp4, etc.), regardless of customer‑defined Processing Profiles.
• With the OOTB Video Preview feature, cq5dam.preview.mp4 is always attempted for supported video formats “by default without requiring a processing profile,” so that all videos can be previewed out of the box.

What happens with large videos (e.g. 10 GB 4K MOV)

1. Preview MP4 dominates processing time

   • Thumbnails, web JPEGs, and metadata are usually generated within seconds to a minute.
   • The heavy video transcode for cq5dam.preview.mp4 can run tens of minutes for very large 4K or higher‑resolution masters (e.g. 10 GB MOV files).
   • During this time:
     • The asset remains in a processing state.
     • Time-to-publish is effectively tied to completion or failure of the preview MP4.

2. Risk of timeouts and failed processing for very large/long videos

   • For very large or long videos, the underlying ffmpeg/worker execution can hit its runtime limits and be force‑stopped.
   • Typical symptoms:
     • The asset stays in PROCESSING or shows “Asset Processing Failed”.
     • cq5dam.preview.mp4 appears in dam:failedRenditions with generic error messages.
   • From a business perspective, this means:
     • Live, time-critical content is delayed or appears broken in the UI.
     • Operational teams must manually investigate and decide whether to ignore the failure, even though they only needed the original file in the first place.

3. Preview MP4 is attempted even when not functionally needed

   • The preview MP4 is generated purely for internal preview, but:
     • It is not used by some customers’ publishing pipelines, which rely on the original or on external transcoders.
     • It still consumes compute resources and wall time, regardless of whether anyone uses it.

4. No supported way to control this behavior

   • Admins can define or adjust extra renditions via Processing Profiles, but they:
     • Cannot remove or disable cq5dam.preview.mp4 from the default processing profile.
     • Cannot configure limits (max file size, duration, resolution) that would cause AEM to skip preview generation for “too big” assets.
     • Cannot mark specific folders or assets as “no preview” to optimize time-to-publish for time‑critical workflows.

As a result, customers with live event / high‑velocity publishing needs are forced into a one‑size‑fits‑all processing model where the slowest, least necessary step (preview MP4) often defines the effective time-to-publish.

We are looking for a supported, configuration‑driven way to control or skip the default preview MP4 for certain scenarios, especially large live-event footage.

Any of the following would address the problem (even one would be very helpful; all three would be ideal):

1. Configurable toggle to disable default preview MP4

   • Provide a setting (e.g. in Tools → Assets → Processing Profiles or a similar admin UI) that allows:
     • Disabling cq5dam.preview.mp4 generation globally for a program, or
     • Disabling it for specific folders (via folder‑level profile or configuration).
   • When disabled:
     • Asset Compute does not request or generate cq5dam.preview.mp4.
     • The absence of this rendition does not count as a processing failure; assets are marked processed once all other requested renditions are done.

2. Size/duration/resolution‑based guardrails (opt-out behavior)

   • Allow admins to set optional thresholds for preview MP4 generation, e.g.:
     • Maximum source file size (e.g. 2 GB, 5 GB, 10 GB).
     • Maximum duration (e.g. 30 or 60 minutes).
     • Optional resolution constraints (e.g. skip preview for >4K).
   • If an asset exceeds these thresholds:
     • AEM skips preview MP4 generation for that asset.
     • The asset is still marked as successfully processed, potentially with an informational note “Preview skipped due to configured limits,” but not as a failure.
   • This allows customers to:
     • Keep previews for “normal” content.
     • Avoid long, error‑prone previews for extremely large live-event footage where time-to-publish is critical.

3. Per‑folder or per‑asset “no preview” flag

   • Introduce a property, such as dam:disableVideoPreview, which:
     • Can be applied at folder level (in folder properties) and inherited by assets.
     • Can be overridden at asset level where needed.
   • The standard processing pipeline would check this flag and skip preview MP4 when it is set.
   • Example:
     • A folder designated for “live raw ingest” could have dam:disableVideoPreview=true.
     • Another folder for “marketing-ready derivatives” would keep the default behavior.

Overall expectations:

• Skipping preview MP4 in these scenarios should:
  • Not be treated as an error.
  • Not block publishing or other workflows that depend only on the original file.
• Other OOTB renditions (thumbnails, metadata, etc.) should continue to work exactly as they do today.
• Existing customers who rely on the current behavior should see no change unless they explicitly enable the new configuration.

AEM as a Cloud Service (2026.1) with Asset Compute microservice running on Adobe AppBuilder/Runtime)

• Product: Adobe Experience Manager Assets as a Cloud Service
• Services involved: Asset microservices / Asset Compute, OOTB Video Preview feature
• Typical environment setup:
  • AEMaaCS author environments ingesting large 4K (or higher) MOV/MP4 masters (e.g. up to 15  GB, maybe 16GB).
  • Dynamic Media may or may not be enabled; the issue exists even without DM.
  • Live-event workflows with high upload velocity and strict time-to-publish SLAs.