For filmmakers and studios

Magic Engine Studios Delivery Guide

What to send for your film or series to stream on the Magic Engine Studios app for Roku, and how to send it. If something here is hard for you, send what you have and we'll talk. Most problems can be fixed on our end.

Video: 1080p MP4
Audio: AAC stereo
Captions: English .srt
Tile art: 16:9, all ages

What to send for each title

The video RequiredOne MP4 file, specs below.
Tile image Required16:9, suitable for all ages.
English captions RequiredAn .srt file, for anything over 15 minutes.
Title info RequiredName, description, rating, rights choices.
Background image Optional1920×1080, inside the app only.
Trailer Optional1–3 minutes. Helps people pick your film.

Plus the signed agreement from Magic Engine Studios.

Video

Setting	Use this
File type	.mp4, H.264
Size	1080p: up to 1920 pixels wide. Smaller is fine (1280×720).
Shape	Any aspect ratio. Keep your film's own shape (2.39:1, 2:1, 16:9…). Don't add black bars; the TV adds them.
Frame rate	The same as your master: 23.976, 24, 25, 29.97…
Bitrate	About 6–8 Mbps. A 90-minute film comes out around 4–5 GB.
Color	Standard dynamic range (Rec.709). No HDR for now.
Fast start	On. Called "Fast start", "Web optimized" or "Optimize for streaming" depending on the app.

Export presets that already match

DaVinci ResolveDeliver → H.264 Master or YouTube 1080p, format MP4.

Premiere ProH.264 → Match Source – High bitrate, tick Fast start.

Final Cut ProShare → Apple Devices 1080p, or Export File → H.264.

HandBrake (free)Fast 1080p30 or HQ 1080p30.

Please don't send ProRes, DNxHD or 4K files. They're 5–20 times bigger and don't play on most TVs. Keep your master safe: we may ask for it later for a 4K version.

Audio

AAC, stereo, 192 kbps. A 5.1 mix is welcome too.
Mixed for TV, with dialog you can follow on TV speakers.
Don't worry about exact loudness. We even out the volume so every title plays at the same level.
Check before sending: sound on both sides (not just the left), and lips in sync from start to end.

Captions

English captions as an .srt file, matched to the exact cut you're sending. Captions made for an earlier edit drift out of sync.
Other languages are welcome, one .srt per language.
Name them your-title.eng.srt, your-title.spa.srt (3-letter codes: eng, spa, fra, deu, por…).
Plain text only (UTF-8). Roku shows them in each viewer's own caption style.

Art

Image	Size	Rules
Tile image	1920×1080 (at least 1280×720), JPG or PNG	Suitable for all ages: no swearing, nudity or gore. Roku shows it outside the app, in Roku Search and on the Roku home screen. Your title name on it is welcome.
Background	1920×1080, JPG	Shown dimmed behind your title's page, inside the app only. It can be edgier than the tile. Keep the important part on the right; text sits on the left.
Studio logo	PNG, transparent, at least 1000 px wide	For studios. Shown on black.

Trailer

Same video specs as the film, ideally 1–3 minutes. It plays silently on your title's page, and with sound from its Trailer button.

File names

Studio, title and year, lowercase with dashes. For a series, add season and episode (s01e03) and fill in one info row per episode.

hollow-pine-the-lantern-road-2025.mp4 hollow-pine-the-lantern-road-2025-tile.jpg hollow-pine-the-lantern-road-2025-background.jpg hollow-pine-the-lantern-road-2025-trailer.mp4 hollow-pine-the-lantern-road-2025.eng.srt velvet-static-neon-coffin-s01e03.mp4

How to send your files

Movie files are several GB, too big for email. Magic Engine Studios will tell you which of these two ways to use.

Option A: Cyberduck (free, best for big files)

A drag-and-drop app for Mac and Windows. Uploads resume if your connection drops.

Download Cyberduck from cyberduck.io and install it.
Click Open Connection and choose Cloudflare R2 Storage (S3) from the menu at the top of that window. If it isn't listed, choose Amazon S3.
Enter the server, access key, secret key and folder that Magic Engine Studios sent you privately. Tick "Add to Keychain", then Connect.
Drag in your files for one title. Wait until the transfer window says Complete: a 5 GB file takes about 15–60 minutes, depending on your internet.
Email Magic Engine Studios that it's done, with your title info attached.

Your key can only upload. It can't see or delete anyone else's files.

Option B: a shared folder link

If you get a Dropbox "File Request" or Google Drive upload link, open it in your browser, drag your files onto the page, and stay on the page until every file says it's finished. Then email that it's done.

Before you upload

The video plays start to end on your computer, with sound, and lips in sync.
It's the final cut, and the captions match it.
The tile image is suitable for all ages.
File names follow the examples above.

Title info

Send one row per film or episode with these columns, as a spreadsheet (Excel, Google Sheets or Numbers). Download the template (it has two example rows to replace), or copy the column names below into a new sheet.

Description: 1–3 sentences, suitable for all ages (Roku shows it in search).
Rating: your honest TV rating, e.g. TV-MA, TV-14, or NR.
Credits start: where the end credits begin (h:mm:ss), so "Up next" can appear there.
Rights: whether the title may play on demand, on the 24/7 channel, or both; late night only; countries; dates.

What happens next

Magic Engine Studios checks each file (picture, sound, captions), prepares it for streaming, and adds your title to the app. If anything needs fixing, they'll tell you exactly what. A title usually goes live within a few days of a complete delivery.