Generate manifests without the server

The server renders manifests on the fly, but the CLI can also write them to disk from an asset.json. This is useful for inspecting the exact XML or playlist a descriptor produces, diffing manifests across changes, or validating output without starting a server.

These commands only render manifests — they don’t serve media. Players still need the CMAF segments, which in production the server provides.

Render a DASH manifest

dyndo dash -i asset.json -o stream.mpd

wrote stream.mpd

The output is a static MPD describing every representation in the asset:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<MPD xmlns="urn:mpeg:dash:schema:mpd:2011" profiles="urn:mpeg:dash:profile:isoff-live:2011" type="static" mediaPresentationDuration="PT22M50.325S" minBufferTime="PT1.962S" …>
  <Period id="0" start="PT0S">
    <AdaptationSet id="0" contentType="video" segmentAlignment="true" mimeType="video/mp4" startWithSAP="1">
      <Representation id="video_1080_avc1_4807228" bandwidth="4807228" width="1920" height="1080" frameRate="25" codecs="avc1.640028">
        <SegmentTemplate media="$RepresentationID$/$Time$.m4s" initialization="$RepresentationID$/init.mp4" timescale="90000" presentationTimeOffset="0">
          <SegmentTimeline>
            <S t="0" d="172800" r="355"/>
            …
          </SegmentTimeline>
        </SegmentTemplate>
      </Representation>
    </AdaptationSet>
    …
  </Period>
</MPD>

Compact the manifest

By default each Representation carries its own SegmentTemplate. The -c/--compact flag hoists a SegmentTemplate shared by all representations up to the AdaptationSet level, producing a smaller manifest:

dyndo dash -i asset.json -o stream.mpd --compact

In compact output the SegmentTemplate precedes the Representation elements within each set:

<AdaptationSet id="0" contentType="video" segmentAlignment="true" mimeType="video/mp4" startWithSAP="1">
  <SegmentTemplate media="$RepresentationID$/$Time$.m4s" initialization="$RepresentationID$/init.mp4" timescale="90000" presentationTimeOffset="0">
    <SegmentTimeline>
      <S t="0" d="172800" r="355"/>
      …
    </SegmentTimeline>
  </SegmentTemplate>
  <Representation id="video_1080_avc1_4807228" bandwidth="4807228" width="1920" height="1080" frameRate="25" codecs="avc1.640028"/>
</AdaptationSet>

The server always renders DASH in compact form. Use --compact here when you want the CLI output to match what the server would serve.

Render HLS playlists

HLS is a set of files — a multivariant playlist plus one media playlist per advertised track — so dyndo hls writes to a directory rather than a single file:

dyndo hls -i asset.json -o hls

wrote hls/ (1 master + 3 media)

The directory contains the multivariant playlist and one media playlist per video and audio track, named by track id (text tracks are not yet advertised in HLS — see the dyndo hls reference):

hls/
├── index.m3u8                        # multivariant (master) playlist
├── video_1080_avc1_4807228.m3u8      # one media playlist per track
├── video_720_avc1_3205265.m3u8
└── audio_nld_2_mp4a_196918.m3u8

Each media playlist references the segments by the same relative URLs the server uses (<id>/init.mp4, <id>/<time>.m4s):

#EXTM3U
#EXT-X-VERSION:6
#EXT-X-TARGETDURATION:2
#EXT-X-PLAYLIST-TYPE:VOD
#EXT-X-MAP:URI="video_1080_avc1_4807228/init.mp4"
#EXTINF:1.92,
video_1080_avc1_4807228/0.m4s
#EXTINF:1.92,
video_1080_avc1_4807228/172800.m4s
…
#EXT-X-ENDLIST

Next steps

• Serve manifests dynamically instead: Run and configure the server.
• Full options: dyndo dash and dyndo hls.
• Why the segment URLs are identical across protocols: One source, two protocols.