What is the difference between a provider and an encoding house?

A provider is the content owner in direct contract with iTunes. An encoding house is contracted by providers to create metadata, encode content, and deliver content directly to iTunes. Encoding houses do not have a contractual relationship with iTunes. Note that the same company can act as a provider and an encoding house.

What is the difference between a provider account and an encoding house account?

The provider account is for iTunes Connect and day-to-day use. The encoding house account only works with Transporter.

What is an encoding house?

An encoding house provides capture, delivery, and metadata preparation services for a film package as ordered by a film studio (a provider). Encoding houses are chosen by the provider, and deliver all content on the provider's behalf, either through an iTunes outsourced QC partner or directly to iTunes. Encoding houses do not have a contractual relationship with iTunes.

How do I pick an encoding house?

We recommend working with one of the preferred Apple-approved encoding houses from the pre-approved list. This list is available under Resources and Help on iTunes Connect and shows the services that each house provides. Although organized by geographic location, you can work with any encoding house listed, regardless of your location.

Can I work directly with Apple or should I use an aggregator?

Aggregators are experts in delivering content to iTunes. For a fee they can correctly format and deliver your content to Apple’s specifications. The majority of independent movies offered on iTunes is provided by one of our aggregator partners. View Apple-approved aggregators.

If you want to deliver your movies directly to iTunes, you'll need to complete the movies application.

What is the difference between aggregators and encoding houses?

Aggregators are experts in delivering movies to iTunes. Apple pays the aggregator for sales, and the aggregator then pays the content owner.

Regardless of whether you choose to use an aggregator, all content must be encoded and delivered by an Apple-approved encoding house. The encoding house processes the content in the Apple-specific encode that is required for distribution on iTunes.

What happens when I redeliver video content?

All assets may be re-encoded and redelivered at any time. Once redelivered assets are processed, they will automatically overwrite the file currently for sale in the iTunes Store. To overwrite an existing asset, use the same Vendor ID you used for initial delivery. The usual cycle time applies to redelivered content.