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What are Derivative Files?

Derivative files are alternate versions generated from a source asset, including thumbnails, resized images, compressed videos, and format conversions. They are outputs for particular uses rather than replacements for the source.

How Derivative Files work

A derivative is linked by provenance to a higher-quality or authoritative asset and is tailored for a defined consumer. Its differences can include geometry, codec, bitrate, color treatment, overlays, segmentation, or packaging. Derivatives may be generated once during ingest or recreated deterministically from stored recipes and source versions. They occupy the distribution and access layer of a media workflow while preservation masters and editable originals remain separate.

Key facts

  1. A robust derivative record identifies the source revision and transformation recipe; without both, visually identical filenames can hide stale crops, codecs, or branding.
  2. Repeatedly transcoding an already lossy derivative compounds quantization artifacts, so variant trees should normally branch from a suitable master rather than from one another.
  3. Cache keys need every output-affecting parameter, including source version, orientation, color profile, and encoder settings; omissions can serve a technically valid but wrong variant.

When Derivative Files matter

Generate derivatives to meet the resolution, format, and bandwidth limits of each delivery channel. Retaining a suitable source allows new variants to be produced later without compounding compression loss.

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