# Upload a video from local storage with the Wowza Video REST API

Wowza Video™ allows users to ingest, store, and categorize
video content in order to centralize, reuse, amplify, and provide
user-friendly access to videos.

This article demonstrates how to upload .mp4 files stored on your local computer to Wowza Video
using the Wowza Video REST API.

Info
This topic only applies to version 2.0 and later of the REST API.

## Before you start

You should be familiar with the following concepts:

- **API authentication** **methods**. We use JSON web tokens for API
authentication. See
[Authentication](/docs/wowza-video/about-the-rest-api/authentication) for more
information.
- **Environment variables**. We use environment variables for the API
version and your JWT in the cURL API request examples in this topic
to make it easier for you to copy, paste, and run commands in your
Terminal or Command Prompt window. If you don't set environment
variables for these values, you'll need to manually enter the
correct values in the code samples throughout this tutorial. See
[Tools for testing the API](/docs/wowza-video/about-the-rest-api/api-overview#tools-for-testing-the-api) for instructions.


## 1. Create an object in Wowza Video to store your video asset

Before you can upload a video from your local storage to Wowza Video, you'll need to create a storage location in Wowza Video by sending a `POST` request to
the `/videos` endpoint.

You can use the following sample request, making sure to:

- Specify `DIRECT` for the `input` or upload method. Wowza Video will return an upload URL you'll use in step 2 to upload the video from your local storage.
- Set any other information you'd like to now, like the video name and description. You can always set these values later using `PATCH /video/ID`.


Info
To categorize a video, you'll need to already have an existing category so you can pass the category ID in this request.

**Sample request**

Endpoint Reference


```
curl -X POST \
-H "Content-Type: application/json" \
-H "Authorization: Bearer ${WV_JWT}" \
-d '{
      "video": {
        "input": {
          "method": "DIRECT"
        },
        "name":"My video"
      }
}' "${WV_HOST}/api/${WV_VERSION}/videos"
```

**Sample response**

The response includes:

- An `id` for the asset that you'll use to complete other actions on
the asset.
- An `upload_url` for the video that you'll use in step 2 to upload
the asset to Wowza Video.


The response might look similar to the following code:


```
{
  "video": {
    ...
    "id": "fc5b04bc-7bf6-468e-ae88-afdb1873a6c4",
    "name": "My video",
    "upload_url": "<secure_upload_url>"
    ...
  }
}
```

## 2. Upload the video to Wowza Video

You can upload the file with the cURL
`--upload-file` option.

Info
We support multiple video and audio formats, but we recommend MP4 format and H.264 and AAC encoded files.

You can use the following sample request, making sure to:

- Set `upload_url` to the
`upload_url` returned
when you created the asset.
- Set `file_path` to the location on your computer for the file you
would like to upload.
For example, `~/Downloads/MyFile.mp4`


**Sample request**


```
curl -X PUT -H 'Content-Type: video/mp4' --upload-file file_path 'upload_url'
```

This is the sample request using the
`file_path` and
`upload_url` from the
previous step:


```
curl -X PUT -H 'Content-Type: video/mp4' --upload-file MyFile.mp4 'https://objectstorage.us-ashburn-1.oraclecloud.com/p/k9bGRcyPFPtdeQeTRgAVTByIVVS0Z_EKrLBu3TusTrRfBuIpoDyio_ZYdjdjfkf/n/a1b2c3d4e5f6/b/myfolder/o/uploads/recording_bry7vv0s/myvideo.mp4';
```

Info
If you are manually walking through these steps and would
like additional error reporting as well as a visual indicator on the
command line regarding upload status, you can append a log-to-file
command to the cURL request above: `log_file.out`

You'll get a log file written locally and upload status in the command
line while the file is uploading, like:

![log file](/assets/log-file-2.eaa18c8ac49266dd2d609d248bac5aa120b176ed3fc5cbf8245f9e92ed0c7217.71a4f21c.png)

When you upload the video to Wowza Video, we'll transcode your MP4 so that you'll also have an HLS stream that ensures the best viewing experience possible. If you want to check the transcoding status of your video, you can send a `POST` request to `/videos/ID`, where ID is the ID returned in step 1.

## Related API requests

- GET /videos — View all videos for an account.
- DELETE /videos/ID — Delete a video.
- PATCH /videos/ID — Update metadata for a video.
- PUT /videos/ID — Upload a new version of the video.