Unless otherwise configured, the client libraries useApplication Default Credentialsto authenticate with Google Cloud Services. While this works for most applications, in some cases you may need to override this default. You can do so by providing theUnifiedCredentialsOptionThe following example shows how to explicitly load a service account key file:
[](std::string const& keyfile) {
auto is = std::ifstream(keyfile);
is.exceptions(std::ios::badbit); // Minimal error handling in examples
auto contents = std::string(std::istreambuf_iterator<char>(is.rdbuf()), {});
auto options =
google::cloud::Options{}.set<google::cloud::UnifiedCredentialsOption>(
google::cloud::MakeServiceAccountCredentials(contents));
return google::cloud::video_livestream_v1::LivestreamServiceClient(
google::cloud::video_livestream_v1::MakeLivestreamServiceConnection(
options));
}
Follow these links to find examples for other*Clientclasses:
[[["Easy to understand","easyToUnderstand","thumb-up"],["Solved my problem","solvedMyProblem","thumb-up"],["Other","otherUp","thumb-up"]],[["Hard to understand","hardToUnderstand","thumb-down"],["Incorrect information or sample code","incorrectInformationOrSampleCode","thumb-down"],["Missing the information/samples I need","missingTheInformationSamplesINeed","thumb-down"],["Other","otherDown","thumb-down"]],["Last updated 2025-09-04 UTC."],[[["\u003cp\u003eThis page provides documentation for overriding default authentication credentials when using Google Cloud services, specifically for video-related APIs in C++.\u003c/p\u003e\n"],["\u003cp\u003eThe latest version documented is 2.37.0-rc, with historical versions listed down to 2.11.0, all with information for overriding authentication.\u003c/p\u003e\n"],["\u003cp\u003eClient libraries generally use Application Default Credentials, but users can override this by using the \u003ccode\u003eUnifiedCredentialsOption\u003c/code\u003e and providing service account key file.\u003c/p\u003e\n"],["\u003cp\u003eThe page provides example code for explicitly loading a service account key file, utilizing \u003ccode\u003eMakeServiceAccountCredentials\u003c/code\u003e to create \u003ccode\u003eUnifiedCredentialsOption\u003c/code\u003e.\u003c/p\u003e\n"],["\u003cp\u003eLinks are provided for examples with \u003ccode\u003eLivestreamServiceClient\u003c/code\u003e, \u003ccode\u003eVideoStitcherServiceClient\u003c/code\u003e, and \u003ccode\u003eTranscoderServiceClient\u003c/code\u003e classes, along with a link to best practices for managing service account keys.\u003c/p\u003e\n"]]],[],null,["Version 2.18.0keyboard_arrow_down\n\n- [2.42.0-rc (latest)](/cpp/docs/reference/video/latest/video-override-authentication)\n- [2.41.0](/cpp/docs/reference/video/2.41.0/video-override-authentication)\n- [2.40.0](/cpp/docs/reference/video/2.40.0/video-override-authentication)\n- [2.39.0](/cpp/docs/reference/video/2.39.0/video-override-authentication)\n- [2.38.0](/cpp/docs/reference/video/2.38.0/video-override-authentication)\n- [2.37.0](/cpp/docs/reference/video/2.37.0/video-override-authentication)\n- [2.36.0](/cpp/docs/reference/video/2.36.0/video-override-authentication)\n- [2.35.0](/cpp/docs/reference/video/2.35.0/video-override-authentication)\n- [2.34.0](/cpp/docs/reference/video/2.34.0/video-override-authentication)\n- [2.33.0](/cpp/docs/reference/video/2.33.0/video-override-authentication)\n- [2.32.0](/cpp/docs/reference/video/2.32.0/video-override-authentication)\n- [2.31.0](/cpp/docs/reference/video/2.31.0/video-override-authentication)\n- [2.30.0](/cpp/docs/reference/video/2.30.0/video-override-authentication)\n- [2.29.0](/cpp/docs/reference/video/2.29.0/video-override-authentication)\n- [2.28.0](/cpp/docs/reference/video/2.28.0/video-override-authentication)\n- [2.27.0](/cpp/docs/reference/video/2.27.0/video-override-authentication)\n- [2.26.0](/cpp/docs/reference/video/2.26.0/video-override-authentication)\n- [2.25.1](/cpp/docs/reference/video/2.25.1/video-override-authentication)\n- [2.24.0](/cpp/docs/reference/video/2.24.0/video-override-authentication)\n- [2.23.0](/cpp/docs/reference/video/2.23.0/video-override-authentication)\n- [2.22.1](/cpp/docs/reference/video/2.22.1/video-override-authentication)\n- [2.21.0](/cpp/docs/reference/video/2.21.0/video-override-authentication)\n- [2.20.0](/cpp/docs/reference/video/2.20.0/video-override-authentication)\n- [2.19.0](/cpp/docs/reference/video/2.19.0/video-override-authentication)\n- [2.18.0](/cpp/docs/reference/video/2.18.0/video-override-authentication)\n- [2.17.0](/cpp/docs/reference/video/2.17.0/video-override-authentication)\n- [2.16.0](/cpp/docs/reference/video/2.16.0/video-override-authentication)\n- [2.15.1](/cpp/docs/reference/video/2.15.1/video-override-authentication)\n- [2.14.0](/cpp/docs/reference/video/2.14.0/video-override-authentication)\n- [2.13.0](/cpp/docs/reference/video/2.13.0/video-override-authentication)\n- [2.12.0](/cpp/docs/reference/video/2.12.0/video-override-authentication)\n- [2.11.0](/cpp/docs/reference/video/2.11.0/video-override-authentication) \n\nHow to Override the Authentication Credentials\n==============================================\n\nUnless otherwise configured, the client libraries use [Application Default Credentials](https://cloud.google.com/docs/authentication#adc) to authenticate with Google Cloud Services. While this works for most applications, in some cases you may need to override this default. You can do so by providing the [UnifiedCredentialsOption](https://cloud.google.com/cpp/docs/reference/common/latest/structgoogle_1_1cloud_1_1UnifiedCredentialsOption.html) The following example shows how to explicitly load a service account key file: \n\n [](std::string const& keyfile) {\n auto is = std::ifstream(keyfile);\n is.exceptions(std::ios::badbit); // Minimal error handling in examples\n auto contents = std::string(std::istreambuf_iterator\u003cchar\u003e(is.rdbuf()), {});\n auto options =\n google::cloud::Options{}.set\u003cgoogle::cloud::UnifiedCredentialsOption\u003e(\n google::cloud::MakeServiceAccountCredentials(contents));\n return google::cloud::video_livestream_v1::LivestreamServiceClient(\n google::cloud::video_livestream_v1::MakeLivestreamServiceConnection(\n options));\n }\n\nFollow these links to find examples for other `*Client` classes:\n\n- [`video_livestream_v1::LivestreamServiceClient`](/cpp/docs/reference/video/2.18.0/video_livestream_v1_1_1LivestreamServiceClient-service-account-snippet)\n- [`video_stitcher_v1::VideoStitcherServiceClient`](/cpp/docs/reference/video/2.18.0/video_stitcher_v1_1_1VideoStitcherServiceClient-service-account-snippet)\n- [`video_transcoder_v1::TranscoderServiceClient`](/cpp/docs/reference/video/2.18.0/video_transcoder_v1_1_1TranscoderServiceClient-service-account-snippet)\n\nKeep in mind that we chose this as an example because it is relatively easy to understand. Consult the [Best practices for managing service account keys](https://cloud.google.com/iam/docs/best-practices-for-managing-service-account-keys) guide for more details.\n\n###### See Also\n\n[Authentication Components](https://cloud.google.com/cpp/docs/reference/common/latest/group__guac.html) - for more information on the factory functions to create [`google::cloud::Credentials`](https://cloud.google.com/cpp/docs/reference/common/latest/classgoogle_1_1cloud_1_1Credentials.html) objects."]]