How Kuaishou Delivered Ultra‑HD Video for Jackie Chan’s Short‑Video Debut

On October 27, Jackie Chan opened the world’s first short‑video social account on Kuaishou, instantly generating over 300 million views for his first video and more than 7.8 billion total views across 1.74 million related works.

The Kuaishou audio‑video technology team launched a special “high‑quality transcoding tier” to ensure the video’s visual fidelity, deploying mature technologies within 20 hours before the launch.

Why a special transcoding tier? The massive fanbase demanded exceptional visual quality, requiring the team to provide a customized high‑definition streaming option.

What is video processing and compression? Transcoding converts uploaded videos into smaller files while preserving quality. Processing algorithms repair defects, reduce noise, and enhance colors; compression algorithms lower bitrate to improve playback smoothness and reduce bandwidth costs.

Kuaishou’s backend transcoding system balances cost, quality, and bandwidth, handling tens of millions of daily uploads with low latency.

Project characteristics

Low daily upload volume

Relaxed timeliness requirements

Low concurrent traffic

High user expectations for quality

The team applied cutting‑edge quality‑enhancement methods and aggressive compression, achieving a negligible cost increase while delivering noticeably better visual fidelity.

Technical deep‑processing steps

1. Uploaded video undergoes CAPE (Content‑Adaptive Processing and Encoding) analysis to determine optimal processing logic.

2. Based on analysis, custom quality‑enhancement strategies (e.g., DeArt, DeBlur) are applied, improving clarity over the source.

3. The system decides the appropriate output resolution, frame rate, and bitrate to meet the “hair‑split” clarity requirement.

4. Enhanced video is processed and compressed with real‑time quality monitoring.

5. A tailored delivery strategy selects the best stream for each user’s device and network conditions.

Trigger mechanism

The special tier is activated via a dedicated user account and associated delivery policies, with real‑time notifications and monitoring at each stage.

The entire workflow—from upload, intelligent analysis, enhancement, compression, to delivery—is illustrated below:

Compared to the standard tier, the special tier delivers markedly sharper images, as shown in the side‑by‑side comparison:

Beyond this case, the team has supported large‑scale events such as the 2021 Spring Festival Gala and the Tokyo Olympics, delivering customized transcoding solutions that balance ultra‑high quality with low latency and bandwidth efficiency.

Finally, the article includes a recruitment call, inviting engineers to join the Kuaishou audio‑video team (contact: video‑[email protected]).