What is a Bumper?
A bumper is a brief video or audio segment placed before, after, or between primary content. It commonly provides branding, identification, a transition, or sponsor recognition.
How Bumpers work
In a program timeline, a bumper is an inserted boundary element rather than part of the editorial body of the main item. Assembly may use a direct splice when streams are compatible or decode and re-encode the pieces to establish a uniform output. Video timing, audio continuity, captions, and loudness all cross the join, so automated playout and export systems commonly normalize the segment before concatenation or signal an intentional discontinuity.
Key facts
- 1A clean compressed-video join normally needs an independently decodable frame at the boundary; cutting into a dependent GOP can produce corruption or require re-encoding around the edit.
- 2Differences in audio sample rate, channel layout, codec delay, or loudness can create gaps and abrupt level changes even when the bumper’s video dimensions already match.
- 3Segmented delivery can mark a timestamp or encoding break as a discontinuity, but the player must support that transition; normalization avoids relying on such behavior.
When Bumpers matter
Insert bumpers automatically when assembling channel schedules, sponsored streams, or branded exports. Their codecs and stream properties must match or be normalized to avoid playback breaks at joins.