Every organization with huge amounts of video faces the same challenge: content lives everywhere. Decades of archives on LTO tapes gathering dust in storage facilities. High-resolution rushes scattered across Avid Nexis systems. Hard drives, servers holding terabytes of footage that no one can find. Live feeds coming in from the field that need to be clipped and shared before the stream even ends.

Moments Lab acts as the window to all of this content. An AI Video Discovery platform that enriches your video assets with rich, customizable and time-coded metadata. Making it searchable and discoverable by anyone thanks to easy-to-use semantic and conversational search. The ability to clip what you need, share it, even sell it via an online video storefront branded with your company's colors. But all of this is only possible in the cloud. So how do you get it there?

Whether you're making petabytes of archives discoverable while keeping high-resolution files on-premises, or uploading live footage from the field, we offer flexible, secure and scalable ways to ingest media. You can connect your existing on-prem or cloud storage through the Moments Gateway, integrate via API with your orchestration tools and schedule live streams directly into the platform. There’s also the option of uploading through third-party file transfer applications or dragging and dropping from your desktop or mobile device.

Moments Lab has a method that fits your workflow. Here's what to expect from each.

1. Moments Gateway for on-premises: index archives without moving them

Who’s this for?

Organizations with massive on-premises libraries (LTO, network-attached storage, storage area networks, hard disk drives, solid-state drives) who want cloud access without moving high-resolution files.

How it works:

Moments Gateway scans your on-premises storage — whether that's LTO tapes, Avid Nexis, NAS, SAN or drives — and can generate proxies locally. These proxies automatically sync to a Moments Lab S3 bucket in the cloud. You choose which files and folders to make accessible, and we keep a pathway back to the on-premises location so users can retrieve originals when needed. Our team handles the remote installation, so there's no heavy lifting on your end.

Pros:

• Make petabytes discoverable without moving high-resolution files
• Ideal for batch uploads of massive files (rushes, upstream content)
• Keeps originals secure on-premises
• Limited bandwidth bottlenecks for large archives
• Access the right clip from the original file easily when editing in your NLE
  

2. Moments Gateway for Avid Nexis: search and edit without leaving Media Composer

Who’s it for?

Organizations using Avid Nexis Storage and Avid Media Composer that want to search their Nexis storage from the cloud and pull native high-resolution media directly into their timeline.

How it works:

Right-click on media in a bin within Media Composer and select the option to generate an AAF. Moments Gateway, running on-premises, reads the AAF and accesses the native media on your Nexis storage to generate a proxy version of the chosen asset. That proxy is delivered to Moments Lab S3 along with a sidecar metadata file. The asset is automatically indexed by MXT to generate enhanced metadata. From there, you can search within the Moments Lab platform to find and clip the moments you need. When you're ready, Moments Lab generates a cart and sends the data to the on-premises software agent, which generates the AAF for you to import into Media Composer. Import the AAF file, and it adds the content you chose in the cart directly to your timeline, referencing the native high-resolution media on your Nexis storage.

Pros:

• Stay in Media Composer throughout the entire workflow
• Search cloud-indexed content without moving high-resolution files off Nexis
• Pull native media directly into your timeline with a simple import
• No manual relinking or proxy swapping
• Access the right clip from the original file easily when editing in Media Composer
  

3. Moments Gateway for cloud: index existing cloud storage

Who’s this for?

Teams already using cloud storage (Amazon Web Services S3, Microsoft Azure, Google Cloud) who want to make existing buckets searchable.

How it works:

Moments Gateway scans any existing cloud storage bucket you point it to. You choose which files and folders to make accessible, and we generate proxy files for indexing, discovery and sharing. You can view the original source file location at any time. Like the on-premises version, our team handles the remote installation for you.

Pros:

• No need to move or duplicate files
• Fast setup if you're already in the cloud
• Keeps your existing storage architecture intact
• Access the right clip from the original file easily when editing in your NLE
  

4. Upload via API: build your own integration

Who’s this for?

Organizations with engineering teams or using orchestration tools (Qibb, Embrace, Tedial) who need fine control.

How it works:

Your development team accesses our API documentation and chooses what to upload. The system is storage agnostic — it just requires a HTTP URL endpoint. You can specify audio channel mapping, force language settings and choose whether to apply MXT. If you need help, you can work with system integrators like Glookast, CIS or Base Media to build the integration or leverage existing integrations with workflow engines such as Carrick Skills, Embrace, or Qibb.

Pros:

• No external software to install, your dev team keeps control of the whole workflow
• Finer control over metadata, audio mapping and indexing
• Storage agnostic — works with any HTTP endpoint
• Retains pathway back to original location
• Access the right clip from the original file easily when editing in your NLE
  

5. Ingest live streams: clip and share in real time

Who’s this for?

News teams, sports broadcasters and live event producers who need to clip and share highlights instantly.

How it works:

Connect your existing live provider, schedule via our API or set it up directly from the platform. The system works with RTMP, HLS, SRT, Aviwest SafeStream, LiveU and TVU. Once the stream starts, we transcribe and detect faces in real time. You can clip and share highlights while the stream is still running — no need to wait for it to finish. Media can be automatically routed to an event in Moments Lab based on pre-existing metadata, so everything lands in the right place without manual sorting.

Pros:

• Real-time transcription and face detection
• Clip and share instantly
• Auto-routing to events based on metadata
  

6. Upload to an S3 Watchfolder: simple, secure, scalable

Who’s this for?

Freelancers, small teams and organizations who want a simple drag-and-drop solution for bulk uploads.

How it works:

Upload content directly to a dedicated Amazon S3 Watchfolder using file transfer applications like Cyberduck, FileZilla Pro or MASV. Moments Lab monitors the Watchfolder and ingests new media files along with companion files as they arrive. We provide an authentication key to control upload permissions. If you already have your own S3 bucket, you can use that instead. File transfer options: Cyberduck is free and donation-based, open source and very popular among freelancers and production companies. It doesn't have user management and requires app installation. FileZilla Pro is low cost, open source and has an interface that's a little more advanced than Cyberduck. Like Cyberduck, it doesn't have user management and requires app installation. MASV offers user management and configurable upload web pages, but it's more expensive than the other two options.
Pros:

• Fast and resilient
• Ideal for bulk ingest of multiple large files
• Simple drag-and-drop workflow
• Secure with authentication keys

7. Upload directly from the platform: quick and easy

Who’s this for?

Small, one-off uploads or mobile teams in the field.

How it works:

Drag and drop files from the Moments Lab web interface, or upload on the go from the Moments Lab mobile app. You can also add Moments Lab as an external disc on your local drive and move files that way.

‍Pros:

• No third-party apps needed
• Upload from anywhere, including mobile
• Simple and intuitive‍

Which video formats does Moments Lab work with?

Moments Lab works with the most common media formats, as detailed in this list. The list is not exhaustive — if you don't see your preferred format here, you can contact us.

Ready to get started? Contact our team or your Moments Lab customer success manager to set up the ingest method that fits your workflow. We'll help you make your media accessible, discoverable and ready to create more stories — faster.

‍