How to add intro and outro segments to videos using an API?

If you’ve ever downloaded a Reel from Instagram, you’ve seen it: the outro watermark that tags every clip. It’s subtle, but powerful. That tiny outro is why you know where the video came from, even when it’s floating around on WhatsApp or Twitter.For the platform, it’s free distribution. For the user, it’s a reminder of the source.

This is what most teams eventually need: a way to wrap their content in something recognizable. Sometimes it’s a short, animated intro. Sometimes just a watermark or a legal disclaimer at the end.

We call them intros and outros. Some teams say bumpers. Others call them tags or stitched overlays. Whatever name you use, the idea is the same: a short-branded sequence at the beginning or end of a video, your logo, your sound cue, your platform identity.

It should be simple. But doing it across hundreds or thousands of videos?

‍

‍

At scale, even simple video tasks become systems problems

Adding intros and outros to one video is easy. Doing it across an entire library, with different formats, resolutions, and branding rules, is where things break.

Let’s say your source videos come in MP4, MOV, or MKV containers, encoded in H.264, H.265, or worse, a mix of both. Your intro animation is a clean 1080p H.264 file. Now you need to attach it to content that’s square, vertical, or 4K, without stretching the logo, degrading quality, or re-encoding every frame unnecessarily.

And that’s just the start.

In practice, here’s what makes this problem hard at scale:

• Format compatibility. Every asset must speak the same codec language, or you’ll end up re-encoding even when you don’t want to. That’s a recipe for quality loss and wasted compute time.

• Resolution and aspect mismatch. A square video with a widescreen intro will either get cropped, padded, or distorted. Your output has to intelligently adapt,  not just slap things together.

• Quality preservation. Transcoding everything from scratch isn’t just slow, it also introduces generational loss. The best system knows when to pass through and when to encode.

• Performance at scale. When you’re processing hundreds or thousands of videos a day, speed matters. That means parallel jobs, hardware acceleration, and smart queueing.

‍

Two ways to automate: FFmpeg or an API

There are two common approaches teams use to automate intro/outro stitching scripting with FFmpeg or using a video processing API.

1. Building with FFmpeg

FFmpeg is flexible and battle-tested. You can write scripts that fetch video segments, concatenate files, normalize resolution and framerate, and transcode the final output. For smaller teams or one-off use cases, it gives you full control.

But as volume grows, so does complexity. You'll need to manage encoding infrastructure, queue jobs, monitor failures, and account for edge cases: variable aspect ratios, unsupported codecs, audio mismatches, and corrupt uploads.
It’s not a bad option, but it’s a system you’ll need to maintain.

‍

2. Using a video processing API (Recommended)

A video API removes that overhead.

You send your source video and branding assets,  your intro and outro and the API takes care of the rest: matching resolutions, aligning audio, stitching frames, encoding to the right formats, and delivering the final asset.

Here’s what that really means in practice:

• You don’t need to write stitching logic
  The API handles all the low-level details, no FFmpeg flags, no re-encoding decisions, no trial-and-error debugging.

• It scales instantly
  Whether you’re processing 10 videos or 10,000, the API adapts to your load. No need to spin up workers or manage encoding queues.

• It handles the messy parts you don’t want to own
  Frame-accurate stitching. Resolution mismatches. Broken inputs. Audio sync. All handled with consistent, predictable output.

• You get faster turnaround and less tech debt
  Your team can focus on building product logic, not building and debugging video infrastructure.

• It fits into your system cleanly
  You can trigger it from your backend, connect it to a CMS, run it as part of an upload flow, or batch-process archived content. It’s designed for automation.

Instead of maintaining custom pipelines or wrangling encoding jobs on your own, you can use the third-party solution like FastPix API to handle everything stitching intros and outros, preserving quality, and scaling across thousands of videos without manual effort.

‍

Step-by-step guide: Adding intros and outros to your videos in FastPix

This guide provides a complete walkthrough, from logging into FastPix to adding intros and outros to your video and sharing the final product.

Step 1: Log into FastPix

• Sign Up or Log In
  • ‍If you’re newto FastPix, create an account at FastPix Login.
  • Existing userscan log in with their credentials.‍
    

• Access the dashboard:
  • After logging in, navigate to the FastPix Dashboard.
    
• Generate an access token:
  • Go to Org settings in your dashboard.
  • Generate a new Access Token and Secret Key to authenticate API requests.

‍

Step 2: Prepare your media files

Gather the following media:

• Base Video: The primary video you want to enhance.
• Intro Video (optional): The video that will play at the start.
• Outro Video (optional): The video that will play at the end.
  
  

Ensure compatibility:

• Resolutions of the intro and outro must be equal to or greater than the base video.
• Frame rates of all videos must match.

‍

Step 3: Upload the base video

Use the FastPix Upload API to upload your base video.

API request example:

1curl -X POST 'https://v1.fastpix.io/on-demand' \
2  --user {Access Token ID}:{Secret Key} \
3  -H 'Content-Type: application/json' \
4  -d '{
5    "inputs": [
6      {
7        "type": "video",
8        "url": "https://static.fastpix.io/sample-base-video.mp4"
9      }
10    ],
11    "accessPolicy": "public",
12    "maxResolution": "1080p"
13  }'

‍

• Replace the url with the URL of your base video or provide the local file path.
  
  
• Get the Media ID:
  • The response will include a Media ID, which you will use for adding intros and outros.

‍

Step 4: Add intro and outro

Create a JSON request to specify the intro, outro, and base video URLs.

‍

Example Request:

For adding both intro and outro:

JSON

1{   
2  "inputs": [   
3    {   
4      "type": "video",   
5      "url": "fp_mediaId://<Base_Media_ID>",   
6      "introUrl": "https://static.fastpix.io/intro-video.mp4",   
7      "outroUrl": "https://static.fastpix.io/outro-video.mp4"   
8    }   
9  ],   
10  "accessPolicy": "public",   
11  "maxResolution": "1080p"   
12}

‍

Replace the following:

<Base_Media_ID> with the Media ID from Step 3.

introUrl and outroUrl with the URLs of your intro and outro videos. Submit the request via API to generate the enhanced video.

‍

Step 5: Handle the API response

Once the request is processed, FastPix will return:

• New Media ID: Refers to the enhanced video.
• Playback ID: Used to generate the streaming URL.

Example response:

JSON

1{
2  "success": true,
3  "data": {
4    "id": "6a205f8b-ef52-4c4a-8fe8-33d4564454eb",
5    "status": "created",
6    "playbackIds": [
7      {
8        "id": "87d9774a-96f0-4254-8326-77aafb065731",
9        "accessPolicy": "public"
10      }
11    ]
12  }
13}
14

‍

Step 6: Watch and share your video

Use the Playback ID from the response to create a streaming URL.

Example playback URL:

https://stream.fastpix.io/87d9774a-96f0-4254-8326-77aafb065731.m3u8

Share this URL or embed it into your platform.

‍

Step 7: Manage your videos

• Use the FastPix dashboard or API to:some text
  • View, edit, or delete media.
  • Generate new access tokens if required.
    

Note: Each enhanced video with intros/outros is treated as a new media file and will have additional storage and delivery costs.

Tips for effective intros and Outros

• Keep It short: 5–10 seconds for intros and outros is ideal.
• Brand consistency: Use your logo, colors, and fonts.
• Call-to-Action: Use the outro to encourage viewers to subscribe, like, or visit your site.

See our documentation for detailed explanation.

‍

Real Use Cases for Automated Video Intro and Outro

‍

1. UGC platforms with unpredictable uploads

Users upload videos in every possible format, vertical reels, HD widescreen, low-res mobile clips. To keep the feed consistent and branded, you need a clean intro and outro on every video. With FastPix, you can apply those automatically the moment a video is uploaded, without manual editing or worrying about resolution mismatches.

‍

2. Newsrooms publishing around the clock

News teams produce dozens of clips per day,  reports, interviews, headlines, field coverage. Each one needs a channel ID, branded opening, and legal closer before it goes live. An API ensures these are stitched in automatically right after editing is complete so reporters don’t wait on post-production.

‍

3. Educational platforms standardizing video courses

Courses come from different instructors with different gear, formats, and quality levels. But the platform needs every video to open with the same branded sequence and end with a call-to-action. FastPix automates that across thousands of lessons, so instructors can upload raw videos and get polished content back without touching a timeline.

‍

4. Marketing and product teams doing high-volume content drops

Running a product launch, seasonal campaign, or internal video portal? You may need to brand dozens of videos at once, each with different content, but the same branded intro and outro. Instead of opening up a timeline in Premiere, you trigger a FastPix API call and get final outputs ready to distribute, embed, or schedule.

‍

5. Video apps and marketplaces scaling post-processing

If your app allows users to create, remix, or upload videos, you need to ensure that every output is clean, brand-safe, and consistent. FastPix lets you define your branding rules once, and apply them automatically across every generated or submitted video, without manual workflows or expensive editing steps.

‍

We’d love to hear from you!

Let us know how adding intros and outros to your videos has enhanced your content, and share any ideas or suggestions you might have. Reach out to us anytime!