@torrent-tv/proxy 2.88.2 → 2.88.4

package/services/encode/quality/link-budget.js

@@ -1,254 +1,349 @@
-/**
- * @file What a viewer's link can carry, and what an output asks of it.
- *
- * PURE FUNCTIONS: the viewer's connection enters as a NUMBER — how many megabits
- * the last report showed — and never as a reference to a viewer. Nothing here
- * holds anybody, reads anything or can be asked at the wrong moment.
- *
- * WHAT A LINK CARRIES IS A LOAD, NOT A PICTURE (roadmap item 97, step 11). The
- * viewer receives the picture AND the soundtrack they chose — inside the
- * picture's own stream, or as a separate one — so both are added before the
- * link is asked. And each part says how much its figure can be trusted:
- *
- * 1. `known` — a bound the encoder is held to: a re-encode's `maxrate`, or the
- *    constant rate a re-encoded soundtrack is produced at;
- * 2. `estimated` — a figure the FILE states: a copied picture's average rate,
- *    a copied soundtrack's stated rate. An average is not a bound, so a load
- *    built on it is admitted only by estimate and is never confirmed;
- * 3. `unknown` — no figure at all: a hardware encoder given no limit, a copied
- *    soundtrack whose rate nothing states.
- *
- * A load is as trustworthy as its least trustworthy part.
- */
-
-import { maxrateKbpsFor, nominalKbpsFor } from "../args.js";
-
-/**
- * How much of a measured link may be spent on the stream.
- *
- * The rest is what the link does when it is not being perfect: transport
- * framing, retransmission, the other tabs, the moment somebody else in the
- * house starts something. A load sized to the whole reading stalls on the
- * first of those.
- *
- * Chosen, not measured, and written as a constant rather than dressed up as a
- * measurement. What would replace it is a reading of the transport's own
- * overhead and of how far a link's throughput varies over a session, which
- * nothing takes.
- */
-export const LINK_SAFETY = 0.8;
-
-/** How far a figure in a load can be trusted. */
-export const PEAK_CLASS = Object.freeze({
-  KNOWN: "known",
-  ESTIMATED: "estimated",
-  UNKNOWN: "unknown"
-});
-
-/** What a link was found to do with a load. */
-export const LINK_VERDICT = Object.freeze({
-  FITS: "fits",
-  ESTIMATED_TO_FIT: "estimated to fit",
-  DOES_NOT_FIT: "does not fit",
-  NO_SAFE_BOUND: "no safe bound",
-  NO_MEASUREMENT: "no measurement"
-});
-
-const CLASS_ORDER = [PEAK_CLASS.KNOWN, PEAK_CLASS.ESTIMATED, PEAK_CLASS.UNKNOWN];
-
-/**
- * @typedef {{ mbps: number | null, peakClass: string }} LoadPart
- * @typedef {{ video: LoadPart | null, audio: LoadPart | null, totalMbps: number | null, peakClass: string }} Load
- */
-
-/**
- * @param {number | null} mbps
- * @param {string} peakClass
- * @returns {LoadPart}
- */
-function part(mbps, peakClass) {
-  const figure = Number.isFinite(mbps) && mbps > 0 ? mbps : null;
-  // A figure that is missing is no figure, whatever the part claimed to be.
-  return { mbps: figure, peakClass: figure === null ? PEAK_CLASS.UNKNOWN : peakClass };
-}
-
-/**
- * The picture part of a load, read from an output's identity.
- *
- * An encoder given no limit states no bound, and its part is `unknown` — unless
- * this host has seen outputs of exactly this mode carry a peak (roadmap item
- * 97, step 14), and then that peak is its figure, as an ESTIMATE: it is what
- * was seen, not a bound anything holds the encoder to.
- *
- * @param {import("../output/OutputSpec.js").OutputSpec} spec
- * @param {number | null} sourceMbps - The average rate the source file states.
- * @param {number | null} [observedPeakMbps] - The largest peak outputs of this
- *   mode were seen carrying on this configuration, or null.
- * @returns {LoadPart | null} Null for an output that carries no picture.
- */
-export function videoLoadOfSpec(spec, sourceMbps, observedPeakMbps = null) {
-  if (!spec?.video) {
-    return null;
-  }
-  const encode = spec.video.encode;
-  if (!encode) {
-    return part(sourceMbps, PEAK_CLASS.ESTIMATED);
-  }
-  const rateControl = encode.rateControl;
-  if (rateControl) {
-    return part(rateControl.maxrateKbps / 1000, PEAK_CLASS.KNOWN);
-  }
-  return Number.isFinite(observedPeakMbps) && observedPeakMbps > 0
-    ? part(observedPeakMbps, PEAK_CLASS.ESTIMATED)
-    : part(null, PEAK_CLASS.UNKNOWN);
-}
-
-/**
- * The picture part of a load for a height nothing has produced yet, the way
- * it WOULD be produced here: at the nominal limit on the software encoder,
- * with no limit on a hardware one, and as the source's own stream when the
- * picture is copied at the source's height.
- *
- * The nominal limit is the one of the FRAME the height would be encoded at,
- * chosen by its area (`nominalKbpsFor`) — the same row the output is then
- * opened in, so the offer and the output cannot price one step differently.
- *
- * @param {{ sourceHeight: number, copiesAtSource: boolean, sourceMbps: number | null, encoderKind: string }} picture
- * @param {{ width: number, height: number }} frame - The frame this height is
- *   encoded at for this source.
- * @returns {LoadPart}
- */
-export function videoLoadForFrame(picture, frame) {
-  const sourceHeight = Math.round(Number(picture?.sourceHeight) || 0);
-  if (picture?.copiesAtSource === true && frame.height === sourceHeight) {
-    return part(picture?.sourceMbps ?? null, PEAK_CLASS.ESTIMATED);
-  }
-  if (picture?.encoderKind !== "software") {
-    return part(null, PEAK_CLASS.UNKNOWN);
-  }
-  return part(maxrateKbpsFor(nominalKbpsFor(frame)) / 1000, PEAK_CLASS.KNOWN);
-}
-
-/**
- * The picture part of a load for a software encode at a nominal limit nothing
- * has produced yet. The bound is the one `softwareRateControlFor` would give
- * it, so an output opened at that limit carries exactly this load.
- *
- * @param {number} nominalKbps
- * @returns {LoadPart}
- */
-export function videoLoadOfLimit(nominalKbps) {
-  return part(maxrateKbpsFor(nominalKbps) / 1000, PEAK_CLASS.KNOWN);
-}
-
-/**
- * The soundtrack part of a load: the track THIS viewer chose.
- *
- * @param {{ transcode: boolean, bitrateKbps: number | null } | null} track -
- *   Null when the viewer receives no sound from this output or beside it.
- * @param {number} transcodeKbps - What a re-encoded track is produced at.
- * @returns {LoadPart | null}
- */
-export function audioLoadOf(track, transcodeKbps) {
-  if (!track) {
-    return null;
-  }
-  if (track.transcode === true) {
-    return part(transcodeKbps / 1000, PEAK_CLASS.KNOWN);
-  }
-  return part((Number(track.bitrateKbps) || 0) / 1000, PEAK_CLASS.ESTIMATED);
-}
-
-/**
- * The whole load: the parts added, and the class of the least trustworthy.
- *
- * @param {LoadPart | null} video
- * @param {LoadPart | null} audio
- * @returns {Load}
- */
-export function loadOf(video, audio) {
-  const parts = [video, audio].filter(Boolean);
-  const peakClass = parts.reduce(
-    (worst, one) => (CLASS_ORDER.indexOf(one.peakClass) > CLASS_ORDER.indexOf(worst) ? one.peakClass : worst),
-    PEAK_CLASS.KNOWN
-  );
-  const totalMbps = peakClass === PEAK_CLASS.UNKNOWN
-    ? null
-    : parts.reduce((sum, one) => sum + one.mbps, 0);
-  return { video, audio, totalMbps, peakClass };
-}
-
-/**
- * What a link that measured `linkMbps` does with a load.
- *
- * 1. nothing measured the link — every class is admitted, since the link gave
- *    no ground to refuse, and nothing is confirmed;
- * 2. an `unknown` load against a measured link — `no safe bound`, refused:
- *    there is no number to compare;
- * 3. otherwise the load is compared with the usable share of the link: a
- *    `known` load that passes FITS and is confirmed, an `estimated` one that
- *    passes is admitted by estimate and is NOT confirmed.
- *
- * @param {number | null} linkMbps
- * @param {Load} load
- * @returns {{ verdict: string, admitted: boolean, confirmed: boolean, linkMbps: number | null, load: Load }}
- */
-export function linkCouldCarry(linkMbps, load) {
-  const measured = Number.isFinite(linkMbps) && linkMbps > 0;
-  const answer = (verdict, admitted, confirmed) => ({
-    verdict,
-    admitted,
-    confirmed,
-    linkMbps: measured ? linkMbps : null,
-    load
-  });
-  if (!measured) {
-    return answer(LINK_VERDICT.NO_MEASUREMENT, true, false);
-  }
-  if (load.peakClass === PEAK_CLASS.UNKNOWN) {
-    return answer(LINK_VERDICT.NO_SAFE_BOUND, false, false);
-  }
-  if (linkMbps * LINK_SAFETY < load.totalMbps) {
-    return answer(LINK_VERDICT.DOES_NOT_FIT, false, false);
-  }
-  return load.peakClass === PEAK_CLASS.KNOWN
-    ? answer(LINK_VERDICT.FITS, true, true)
-    : answer(LINK_VERDICT.ESTIMATED_TO_FIT, true, false);
-}
-
-/**
- * How strongly an answer is admitted, for ordering: a load whose figure is a
- * bound before one whose figure is an average, and both before one with no
- * figure (which is only ever admitted with nothing measured). Zero for a
- * refusal.
- *
- * @param {{ admitted: boolean, load: Load }} answer
- * @returns {number}
- */
-export function admissionRank(answer) {
-  if (!answer.admitted) {
-    return 0;
-  }
-  return 3 - CLASS_ORDER.indexOf(answer.load.peakClass);
-}
-
-/**
- * The figures behind an answer, as plain values a log line or a report can
- * carry.
- *
- * @param {{ verdict: string, linkMbps: number | null, load: Load }} answer
- * @returns {object}
- */
-export function linkAnswerFigures(answer) {
-  return {
-    verdict: answer.verdict,
-    linkMbps: answer.linkMbps,
-    linkSafety: LINK_SAFETY,
-    videoMbps: answer.load.video?.mbps ?? null,
-    videoClass: answer.load.video?.peakClass ?? null,
-    audioMbps: answer.load.audio?.mbps ?? null,
-    audioClass: answer.load.audio?.peakClass ?? null,
-    totalMbps: answer.load.totalMbps,
-    peakClass: answer.load.peakClass
-  };
-}
+/**
+ * @file What a viewer's link can carry, and what an output asks of it.
+ *
+ * PURE FUNCTIONS: the viewer's connection enters as a NUMBER — how many megabits
+ * the last report showed — and never as a reference to a viewer. Nothing here
+ * holds anybody, reads anything or can be asked at the wrong moment.
+ *
+ * WHAT A LINK CARRIES IS A LOAD, NOT A PICTURE (roadmap item 97, step 11). The
+ * viewer receives the picture AND the soundtrack they chose — inside the
+ * picture's own stream, or as a separate one — so both are added before the
+ * link is asked. And each part says how much its figure can be trusted:
+ *
+ * 1. `known` — a bound the stream is held to: a re-encode's `maxrate`, or the
+ *    most a copied soundtrack's codec allows it to carry;
+ * 2. `estimated` — an average: a copied picture's or soundtrack's rate as the
+ *    FILE states it, or the target a re-encoded soundtrack is asked for. An
+ *    average is not a bound, so a load built on it is admitted only by
+ *    estimate and is never confirmed;
+ * 3. `unknown` — no figure at all: a hardware encoder given no limit, a copied
+ *    soundtrack whose rate nothing states.
+ *
+ * A load is as trustworthy as its least trustworthy part.
+ */
+
+import { AUDIO_TRANSCODE_KBPS, maxrateKbpsFor, nominalKbpsFor } from "../args.js";
+
+/**
+ * How much of a measured link may be spent on the stream.
+ *
+ * The rest is what the link does when it is not being perfect: transport
+ * framing, retransmission, the other tabs, the moment somebody else in the
+ * house starts something. A load sized to the whole reading stalls on the
+ * first of those.
+ *
+ * Chosen, not measured, and written as a constant rather than dressed up as a
+ * measurement. What would replace it is a reading of the transport's own
+ * overhead and of how far a link's throughput varies over a session, which
+ * nothing takes.
+ */
+export const LINK_SAFETY = 0.8;
+
+/** How far a figure in a load can be trusted. */
+export const PEAK_CLASS = Object.freeze({
+  KNOWN: "known",
+  ESTIMATED: "estimated",
+  UNKNOWN: "unknown"
+});
+
+/** What a link was found to do with a load. */
+export const LINK_VERDICT = Object.freeze({
+  FITS: "fits",
+  ESTIMATED_TO_FIT: "estimated to fit",
+  DOES_NOT_FIT: "does not fit",
+  NO_SAFE_BOUND: "no safe bound",
+  NO_MEASUREMENT: "no measurement"
+});
+
+const CLASS_ORDER = [PEAK_CLASS.KNOWN, PEAK_CLASS.ESTIMATED, PEAK_CLASS.UNKNOWN];
+
+/**
+ * @typedef {{ mbps: number | null, peakClass: string }} LoadPart
+ * @typedef {{ video: LoadPart | null, audio: LoadPart | null, totalMbps: number | null, peakClass: string }} Load
+ */
+
+/**
+ * @param {number | null} mbps
+ * @param {string} peakClass
+ * @returns {LoadPart}
+ */
+function part(mbps, peakClass) {
+  const figure = Number.isFinite(mbps) && mbps > 0 ? mbps : null;
+  // A figure that is missing is no figure, whatever the part claimed to be.
+  return { mbps: figure, peakClass: figure === null ? PEAK_CLASS.UNKNOWN : peakClass };
+}
+
+/**
+ * The picture part of a load, read from an output's identity.
+ *
+ * An encoder given no limit states no bound, and its part is `unknown` — unless
+ * this host has seen outputs of exactly this mode carry a peak (roadmap item
+ * 97, step 14), and then that peak is its figure, as an ESTIMATE: it is what
+ * was seen, not a bound anything holds the encoder to.
+ *
+ * @param {import("../output/OutputSpec.js").OutputSpec} spec
+ * @param {number | null} sourceMbps - The average rate the source file states.
+ * @param {number | null} [observedPeakMbps] - The largest peak outputs of this
+ *   mode were seen carrying on this configuration, or null.
+ * @returns {LoadPart | null} Null for an output that carries no picture.
+ */
+export function videoLoadOfSpec(spec, sourceMbps, observedPeakMbps = null) {
+  if (!spec?.video) {
+    return null;
+  }
+  const encode = spec.video.encode;
+  if (!encode) {
+    return part(sourceMbps, PEAK_CLASS.ESTIMATED);
+  }
+  const rateControl = encode.rateControl;
+  if (rateControl) {
+    return part(rateControl.maxrateKbps / 1000, PEAK_CLASS.KNOWN);
+  }
+  return Number.isFinite(observedPeakMbps) && observedPeakMbps > 0
+    ? part(observedPeakMbps, PEAK_CLASS.ESTIMATED)
+    : part(null, PEAK_CLASS.UNKNOWN);
+}
+
+/**
+ * The picture part of a load for a height nothing has produced yet, the way
+ * it WOULD be produced here: at the nominal limit on the software encoder,
+ * with no limit on a hardware one, and as the source's own stream when the
+ * picture is copied at the source's height.
+ *
+ * The nominal limit is the one of the FRAME the height would be encoded at,
+ * chosen by its area (`nominalKbpsFor`) — the same row the output is then
+ * opened in, so the offer and the output cannot price one step differently.
+ *
+ * @param {{ sourceHeight: number, copiesAtSource: boolean, sourceMbps: number | null, encoderKind: string }} picture
+ * @param {{ width: number, height: number }} frame - The frame this height is
+ *   encoded at for this source.
+ * @returns {LoadPart}
+ */
+export function videoLoadForFrame(picture, frame) {
+  const sourceHeight = Math.round(Number(picture?.sourceHeight) || 0);
+  if (picture?.copiesAtSource === true && frame.height === sourceHeight) {
+    return part(picture?.sourceMbps ?? null, PEAK_CLASS.ESTIMATED);
+  }
+  if (picture?.encoderKind !== "software") {
+    return part(null, PEAK_CLASS.UNKNOWN);
+  }
+  return part(maxrateKbpsFor(nominalKbpsFor(frame)) / 1000, PEAK_CLASS.KNOWN);
+}
+
+/**
+ * The picture part of a load for a software encode at a nominal limit nothing
+ * has produced yet. The bound is the one `softwareRateControlFor` would give
+ * it, so an output opened at that limit carries exactly this load.
+ *
+ * @param {number} nominalKbps
+ * @returns {LoadPart}
+ */
+export function videoLoadOfLimit(nominalKbps) {
+  return part(maxrateKbpsFor(nominalKbps) / 1000, PEAK_CLASS.KNOWN);
+}
+
+/**
+ * The soundtrack part of a load: the track THIS viewer receives, in the mode
+ * it is actually produced in.
+ *
+ * Copied, the track weighs what its codec allows it to — the bound its
+ * configuration is held to, `known` — and where no such bound is confirmed, the
+ * average the file states for it, `estimated`. Re-encoded, it weighs the rate
+ * the encoder is asked for, and that is `estimated` too: ffmpeg's AAC encoder
+ * treats `-b:a` as a target its rate control drifts towards, not a limit
+ * (`libavcodec/aacenc.c`, 8.1.2), and the 6144-bit frame limit it does hold
+ * cannot be turned into a rate without the output's sampling frequency, which
+ * the command does not fix. `research/soundtrack-rate-bound-2026-10-01.md`.
+ *
+ * @param {import("../../media/audio-inventory.js").AudioInventoryEntry | null | undefined} entry -
+ *   The inventory entry of the track; null when nothing describes it.
+ * @param {boolean | null} transcode - How it reaches the viewer; null when the
+ *   viewer receives no sound from this output or beside it.
+ * @returns {LoadPart | null}
+ */
+export function soundtrackLoadOf(entry, transcode) {
+  if (transcode === null || transcode === undefined) {
+    return null;
+  }
+  if (transcode === true) {
+    return part(AUDIO_TRANSCODE_KBPS / 1000, PEAK_CLASS.ESTIMATED);
+  }
+  const peakKbps = Number(entry?.peakKbps);
+  if (Number.isFinite(peakKbps) && peakKbps > 0) {
+    return part(peakKbps / 1000, PEAK_CLASS.KNOWN);
+  }
+  return part((Number(entry?.bitrateKbps) || 0) / 1000, PEAK_CLASS.ESTIMATED);
+}
+
+/**
+ * Whether a copied track has a figure for the link to be asked about: a
+ * confirmed bound, or a rate the file states.
+ *
+ * @param {import("../../media/audio-inventory.js").AudioInventoryEntry | null | undefined} entry
+ * @returns {boolean}
+ */
+export function soundtrackHasFigure(entry) {
+  const peakKbps = Number(entry?.peakKbps);
+  const bitrateKbps = Number(entry?.bitrateKbps);
+  return (Number.isFinite(peakKbps) && peakKbps > 0) || (Number.isFinite(bitrateKbps) && bitrateKbps > 0);
+}
+
+/**
+ * How a soundtrack is produced for a viewer, decided once, when they choose it.
+ *
+ * 1. the browser plays the track as it is and the track has a figure — copied;
+ * 2. the browser cannot play it, or it has no figure at all — re-encoded to AAC,
+ *    where re-encoding is allowed. Without a figure the link cannot be asked
+ *    whether a copy fits it, and the re-encode is the soundtrack that does have
+ *    one;
+ * 3. re-encoding not allowed: a track the browser plays is copied, figure or
+ *    not, and the link's own answer about it stands; a track it cannot play
+ *    cannot be served at all.
+ *
+ * @param {object} params
+ * @param {import("../../media/audio-inventory.js").AudioInventoryEntry | null | undefined} params.entry
+ * @param {boolean} params.browserPlays - Whether the viewer's browser can play
+ *   this track's codec as it stands.
+ * @param {boolean} params.transcodeAllowed
+ * @returns {{ transcode: boolean | null, cause: string }} `transcode: null`
+ *   when the track cannot be served. `cause` is one of {@link SOUNDTRACK_MODE_CAUSE}.
+ */
+export function chooseSoundtrackMode({ entry, browserPlays, transcodeAllowed }) {
+  const hasFigure = soundtrackHasFigure(entry);
+  if (browserPlays && hasFigure) {
+    return { transcode: false, cause: SOUNDTRACK_MODE_CAUSE.COPY };
+  }
+  if (transcodeAllowed) {
+    return { transcode: true, cause: browserPlays ? SOUNDTRACK_MODE_CAUSE.NO_FIGURE : SOUNDTRACK_MODE_CAUSE.UNPLAYABLE };
+  }
+  return browserPlays
+    ? { transcode: false, cause: SOUNDTRACK_MODE_CAUSE.COPY_WITHOUT_FIGURE }
+    : { transcode: null, cause: SOUNDTRACK_MODE_CAUSE.CANNOT_SERVE };
+}
+
+/** Why a soundtrack is produced the way {@link chooseSoundtrackMode} decided. */
+export const SOUNDTRACK_MODE_CAUSE = Object.freeze({
+  COPY: "copied: the browser plays it and its rate is stated",
+  NO_FIGURE: "re-encoded: nothing states how much a copy of it would carry",
+  UNPLAYABLE: "re-encoded: the browser cannot play it as it is",
+  COPY_WITHOUT_FIGURE: "copied without a stated rate: re-encoding is not allowed here",
+  CANNOT_SERVE: "the browser cannot play it and re-encoding is not allowed here"
+});
+
+/**
+ * The whole load: the parts added, and the class of the least trustworthy.
+ *
+ * @param {LoadPart | null} video
+ * @param {LoadPart | null} audio
+ * @returns {Load}
+ */
+export function loadOf(video, audio) {
+  const parts = [video, audio].filter(Boolean);
+  const peakClass = parts.reduce(
+    (worst, one) => (CLASS_ORDER.indexOf(one.peakClass) > CLASS_ORDER.indexOf(worst) ? one.peakClass : worst),
+    PEAK_CLASS.KNOWN
+  );
+  const totalMbps = peakClass === PEAK_CLASS.UNKNOWN
+    ? null
+    : parts.reduce((sum, one) => sum + one.mbps, 0);
+  return { video, audio, totalMbps, peakClass };
+}
+
+/**
+ * What a link that measured `linkMbps` does with a load.
+ *
+ * 1. nothing measured the link — every class is admitted, since the link gave
+ *    no ground to refuse, and nothing is confirmed;
+ * 2. an `unknown` load against a measured link — `no safe bound`, refused:
+ *    there is no number to compare;
+ * 3. otherwise the load is compared with the usable share of the link: a
+ *    `known` load that passes FITS and is confirmed, an `estimated` one that
+ *    passes is admitted by estimate and is NOT confirmed.
+ *
+ * @param {number | null} linkMbps
+ * @param {Load} load
+ * @returns {{ verdict: string, admitted: boolean, confirmed: boolean, linkMbps: number | null, load: Load }}
+ */
+export function linkCouldCarry(linkMbps, load) {
+  const measured = Number.isFinite(linkMbps) && linkMbps > 0;
+  const answer = (verdict, admitted, confirmed) => ({
+    verdict,
+    admitted,
+    confirmed,
+    linkMbps: measured ? linkMbps : null,
+    load
+  });
+  if (!measured) {
+    return answer(LINK_VERDICT.NO_MEASUREMENT, true, false);
+  }
+  if (load.peakClass === PEAK_CLASS.UNKNOWN) {
+    return answer(LINK_VERDICT.NO_SAFE_BOUND, false, false);
+  }
+  if (linkMbps * LINK_SAFETY < load.totalMbps) {
+    return answer(LINK_VERDICT.DOES_NOT_FIT, false, false);
+  }
+  return load.peakClass === PEAK_CLASS.KNOWN
+    ? answer(LINK_VERDICT.FITS, true, true)
+    : answer(LINK_VERDICT.ESTIMATED_TO_FIT, true, false);
+}
+
+/**
+ * Why a link refused a load, in words naming what was missing or too much.
+ *
+ * `no safe bound` names every part that has no figure — the picture, the
+ * soundtrack or both — because that, and not the link, is what the refusal is
+ * about. Any other refusal is about the size of the load and is described by
+ * the caller, who knows which outputs were weighed.
+ *
+ * @param {{ verdict: string, load: Load }} answer
+ * @param {string} otherwise - The words for a load that is too large.
+ * @returns {string}
+ */
+export function linkRefusalReason(answer, otherwise) {
+  if (answer?.verdict !== LINK_VERDICT.NO_SAFE_BOUND) {
+    return otherwise;
+  }
+  const missing = [
+    answer.load?.video?.peakClass === PEAK_CLASS.UNKNOWN ? "the picture" : "",
+    answer.load?.audio?.peakClass === PEAK_CLASS.UNKNOWN ? "the soundtrack" : ""
+  ].filter(Boolean);
+  return `nothing states how much ${missing.length > 0 ? missing.join(" or ") : "this output"} would send, ` +
+    "so this viewer's link cannot be asked whether it fits";
+}
+
+/**
+ * How strongly an answer is admitted, for ordering: a load whose figure is a
+ * bound before one whose figure is an average, and both before one with no
+ * figure (which is only ever admitted with nothing measured). Zero for a
+ * refusal.
+ *
+ * @param {{ admitted: boolean, load: Load }} answer
+ * @returns {number}
+ */
+export function admissionRank(answer) {
+  if (!answer.admitted) {
+    return 0;
+  }
+  return 3 - CLASS_ORDER.indexOf(answer.load.peakClass);
+}
+
+/**
+ * The figures behind an answer, as plain values a log line or a report can
+ * carry.
+ *
+ * @param {{ verdict: string, linkMbps: number | null, load: Load }} answer
+ * @returns {object}
+ */
+export function linkAnswerFigures(answer) {
+  return {
+    verdict: answer.verdict,
+    linkMbps: answer.linkMbps,
+    linkSafety: LINK_SAFETY,
+    videoMbps: answer.load.video?.mbps ?? null,
+    videoClass: answer.load.video?.peakClass ?? null,
+    audioMbps: answer.load.audio?.mbps ?? null,
+    audioClass: answer.load.audio?.peakClass ?? null,
+    totalMbps: answer.load.totalMbps,
+    peakClass: answer.load.peakClass
+  };
+}