How to use Dynamic Media in Document Authoring

This demo covers configuring Dynamic Media (DM) delivery in Document Authoring (DA), so authors can browse AEM Assets, select Smart Crop profiles, and insert AI-optimized delivery URLs directly into their documents.

https://demo.bbird.live/tools/demo/demo.html?url=https://da-sc.adobeaem.workers.dev/live/scdemos/demo/demo-slides/dynamic-media

Configure Dynamic Media (admins)

There are two options for configuring Dynamic Media delivery in DA Site Config.

Option 1

  1. Open DA Site Config for your org
  2. Add aem.repositoryId with your AEM delivery hostname to load assets from Dynamic Media (without folder hierarchy browsing in the asset picker): delivery-pxxxx-eyyyy.adobeaemcloud.com
  3. Save (Paper plane icon)

Option 2

  1. Open DA Site Config for your org
  2. Add aem.repositoryId with your AEM author hostname to load assets from AEM author (with folder hierarchy browsing in the asset picker): author-pxxxx-eyyyy.adobeaemcloud.com
  3. Add aem.asset.dm.delivery set to on — inserted URLs are constructed as Dynamic Media delivery URLs (Author + DM mode)
  4. Save (Paper plane icon)

Asset approval requirement: For assets to appear via DM delivery URLs, they must be approved in AEM with the activation target set to delivery. Assets that are only published to the publish tier will not resolve on DM delivery URLs.

For full setup, prerequisites (including Cloud Manager config and propagation), optional settings (renditions, Smart Crop, Dynamic Media), and troubleshooting, see Setup AEM Assets.

Insert assets with Smart Crop (authors)

Once configured, authors use the AEM Assets picker as normal — Dynamic Media and Smart Crop are activated automatically.

  1. Open your document in DA and place your cursor where you want the image
  2. Open DA Sidekick > Library > AEM Assets
  3. Browse folders and select an asset
  4. If aem.asset.smartcrop.select is enabled, a Smart Crop selection dialog appears — choose the profile (e.g. Large, Medium, Small) that fits the context
  5. DA inserts a Dynamic Media delivery URL with the selected Smart Crop profile as a query parameter (e.g. ?smartcrop=Large)
  6. EDS wraps the URL in a responsive <picture> element at render time — no further author action required

The delivery URL pattern for AEMaaCS Dynamic Media OpenAPI is:

https://delivery-p{prog}-e{env}.adobeaemcloud.com/adobe/assets/urn:aaid:aem:{uuid}/as/{filename.jpg}?smartcrop={ProfileName}

Smart Crop profiles (e.g. Large, Medium, Small) are configured once in AEM DAM Image Profiles and applied to DAM folders by an admin. Adobe Sensei automatically identifies the focal subject and generates each crop — no manual cropping needed.

DM + Media Bus: delivery recommendations

Adobe recommends routing Dynamic Media assets through Media Bus for most EDS use cases. This gives you the best of both systems.

Approach
How it works
Best for
DM via Media Bus (recommended)
Author inserts DM URL with Smart Crop; Media Bus ingests it and serves WebP/AVIF with global CDN caching. URL transforms are baked in — immutable, not editable by end users.
Most content pages. Optimal PageSpeed scores, format conversion, and CDN performance — with full Smart Crop and AEM asset management.
Direct DM delivery
Set aem.assets.image.type: link. Images are served directly from the DM delivery host as anchor tags. Developers hydrate them into picture/image tags in block code.
Frequently updated product imagery or assets that must bypass Media Bus ingestion. Requires CDN configuration for performance.

For a full discussion of delivery options and CDN considerations, see Media Assets.