"Seamless Streaming: The Magic of Adaptive Bitrate Technology"

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Hey guys! Ever wonder how the video on youtube plays without buffering even when the internet is slow?
Ever thought how the quality changes automatically when the network is slow?
So let us discuss what’s behind it

**The Segmentation Process: Breaking Down Videos for Seamless Streaming
**So when you are watching a video on any social platforms, the video is segmented into smaller clips. It doesn’t wait for the whole video to get uploaded. Initially multiple versions of video files are created let’s say 480p, 720p, 1080p and then again get segmented into smaller chunks.
Now based on the bandwidth and the device type, the video player automatically select the best quality file the device can play with the least buffering possible.

Understanding Adaptive Bitrate Streaming: How Quality Adjusts Automatically
In adaptive bitrate streaming, the video player understands what video quality a connection can withstand. If the connection is struggling to play a certain quality file then it switches to the one with lower quality for the next segment. Viewers would experience changes in the quality while watching but the video continues to play.

The Initial Playback: How Video Players Choose the Best Quality
Usually, when the video first starts playing the video player chooses the lowest bitrate segment available and then if it understand that it can handle a higher bitrate file, it switches to the higher bitrate files and keeps on switching until it finds the highest bitrate file it can handle. So if has found the ideal match, then it keeps on requesting the segments from that file unless the conditions changes. This is known as adaptive bitrate streaming.

Streaming Protocols: Supporting Adaptive Bitrate Streaming

1. HTTP Live Streaming(HLS)

2. DASH(Dynamic Adaptive Streaming over HTTP)

3. HDS

Inside MPEG-DASH and HLS: How They Work

How MPEG-DASH and HLS work?

1. Encoding and Segmentation: The server divided the video into smaller segments in length. Server creates an index file - just like table of contents for video segments. Then the segments are encoded i.e formatted in a way multiple devices can interpret.

2. Delivery: When the users start watching, the encoded segments are pushed to the client devices over internet from CDN.

3. Decoding and Playback: As client’s devices receive the stream data, it decodes them and play them as a video. The video player adjust the quality based on the network speed.

HLS and TCP: Ensuring Smooth Video Delivery

HLS is over HTTP and it is built for the use with TCP. Now a days users have enough bandwidth to support the delivery of every video frame unlike older days.

The Role of Adaptive Bitrate Streaming in Enhancing User Experience

Adaptive bitrate streaming compensates for the potential slower data delivery of TCP. A few seconds of lag doesn’t impact the user experience as much as missing video frames would.