How do video streaming services deliver content?
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Streaming media services store audio, video, or gaming content on dedicated media servers that typically reside in multiple locations around the world as part of a content delivery network (CDN). This allows providers to stream content from locations closest to users to minimize latency.
The server uses a process of “encoding” to compress the file, and a process of “transcoding” that creates multiple copies of each file in a variety of file sizes, video quality, and screen resolutions that will be ideal for different types of devices.
When a user requests to view a video or listen to an audio file, the streaming media server breaks the file into a series of small data packets that can be transmitted via the internet.
A media player on the user’s device receives the packets, reassembles them into a video or audio file, and plays them immediately. In a process called buffering, the media player preloads several seconds of the streaming file ahead of time to ensure a smooth and interrupted playback despite changes in internet speeds and quality of connection.
After each bit of the media file has been played, it is deleted from the user’s device.