Live Streaming Platform
Ingest a live feed, transcode in near real time, and fan out to viewers at the edge.
AdvancedMedia
A broadcaster's stream is ingested, transcoded into multiple bitrates continuously, and distributed through the CDN with a real-time chat channel running alongside for viewer interaction.
When to use it
- Content is broadcast live rather than uploaded ahead of time
- Viewer interaction (chat, reactions) needs to happen alongside the stream in real time
Trade-offs
- End-to-end latency (ingest -> transcode -> CDN -> viewer) is much harder to minimise than for VOD
- Live infrastructure cannot gracefully degrade the way VOD can; a failure is visible immediately
Components used
Desktop AppEdge FunctionStream ProcessingCDNMobile AppEvent Bus
How it works
- The broadcaster pushes a feed to an ingest endpoint, which transcodes it into multiple renditions in near real time rather than as a batch job.
- Segments are published continuously to a CDN, and viewers pull them with a manifest that keeps refreshing.
- Latency is a tunable trade-off: smaller segments reduce delay but increase request overhead and reduce buffering headroom.
Used in the wild
- Live sports and event broadcasting.
- Creator streaming platforms with chat interaction.
- Webinars and virtual conferences.
Good to know
- Standard HLS latency is typically 15–30 seconds, which is fine for a concert and unacceptable for live betting or interactive chat where viewers see spoilers before the video.
- Unlike on-demand video, there is no second chance. A transcoding failure during a live event is simply lost, so redundant ingest paths are standard for anything important.
Related system design
Video Streaming (Netflix-style)
Transcode once, serve adaptive bitrate streams from the edge.
Video Upload & Transcode (YouTube-style)
Accept large uploads, process asynchronously, notify when ready.
File Sync Service (Dropbox-style)
Chunk, deduplicate and sync files across devices with conflict resolution.
Collaborative Document Editor (Google Docs-style)
Multiple users edit the same document in real time via operational transforms.