Patent attributes
A transcoding service is described that is capable optimizing media transcoding jobs according to the licensing model associated with a particular transcoder being utilized. The service can receive a request to transcode the media content from a user and inspect an SLA to determine the parameters for the transcoding job, such as the time interval to complete the job or the price of performing the job. The service can then identify a licensing cost associated with transcoding the media content. For example, the licensing cost being based at least in part on a number of running instances of the transcoder. The transcoding service may apply a weight to the licensing cost when prioritizing the transcoding jobs. For example, the service may determine an optimal number of concurrently executing transcoder instances to utilize to reduce the licensing costs associated with the transcoding jobs.