All 52 articles, sorted alphabetically
Adaptive Bitrate (ABR) Selection Algorithms
Buffer-based, throughput-based, and hybrid ABR algorithms — what changes between them.
Read article →AV1 in Production in 2026
Where AV1 is finally worth the encoding cost.
Read article →CDN Routing for Video
Origin shield, regional caches, and the tail of misses.
Read article →DRM: Widevine, PlayReady, FairPlay
Multi-DRM packaging for cross-platform protected content.
Read article →Fragmented MP4 Internals
Why fMP4 segmentation enables both HLS and DASH from one source.
Read article →H.264 vs H.265 vs AV1
Codec efficiency licensing and hardware support trade-offs.
Read article →HLS vs DASH for Video Streaming
When to pick HLS, when to pick DASH, and why most production stacks use both.
Read article →Low-Latency DASH (LL-DASH)
CMAF, chunked encoding, and getting under 3 seconds.
Read article →Low-Latency HLS (LL-HLS) Explained
How partial segments and CMAF reduce HLS latency from 30s to 2s.
Read article →Adaptive bitrate -- matching video quality to the network
Deep-dive on adaptive bitrate (ABR) streaming: the variable-bandwidth problem, multiple renditions (the ladder), segments, client-driven per-segment r…
Read article →ABR Decision Logic Worked Through
Throughput-based vs buffer-based vs hybrid in plain code.
Read article →AV1
How AV1 provides HEVC-level compression without royalties, driven by industry alliance.
Read article →Caption and subtitle delivery architecture
Deep-dive on the video captioning pipeline: moving timed text from source formats through normalization, conversion, segmentation, manifest declaratio…
Read article →Video CDN Architecture in Depth
A 2500-word walkthrough of video CDN: player + edge + shield + JIT packaging + SSAI + DRM + tokens + multi-CDN routing + analytics.
Read article →CMAF architecture
Deep-dive on the Common Media Application Format (CMAF): fragmented-MP4 segments shared by HLS and DASH manifests, IDR-aligned boundaries for seamless…
Read article →Video Codecs Introduction
How video codecs compress raw video by exploiting spatial and temporal redundancy.
Read article →Video conferencing architecture
Deep-dive on video conferencing: SFU, simulcast, bandwidth adaptation, noise suppression, captions, recording, screen share.
Read article →Video Containers
How video containers (MP4, MKV, WebM) hold video + audio + subtitles + metadata.
Read article →Content steering architecture
Deep-dive on DASH/HLS content steering: manifests declaring interchangeable CDN pathways and a steering-service URL, players polling for a ranked path…
Read article →DASH
How MPEG-DASH provides open, standardized adaptive video streaming similar to HLS.
Read article →DASH streaming architecture
Deep-dive on DASH streaming: MPD manifest, transcode ladder, segments, CDN cache, player buffer, ABR, DRM.
Read article →Video DRM architecture
Deep-dive on multi-DRM streaming: Common Encryption packaging, key services, EME and CDM roles, license servers and entitlement tokens, hardware secur…
Read article →Multi-DRM Video Packaging
Widevine, PlayReady, FairPlay in one workflow.
Read article →AI video editing architecture
Deep-dive on AI video editing: scene detection, transcription, cut proposal, effects, timeline UX, rendering, provenance, undo.
Read article →Video Encoder Architecture in Depth
A 2500-word walkthrough of video encoders: raw frames → motion estimation → transform + quantize → entropy coding; rate control + GOP + hardware + cod…
Read article →AV1 encoder architecture
Deep-dive on AV1 encoder: tiling, partition trees, prediction, transform + quant, entropy, rate control, loop filters, HW offload.
Read article →Forensic video watermarking architecture
Deep-dive on forensic video watermarking: per-recipient payloads and collusion-resistant fingerprinting codes, perceptual imperceptible embedding, ser…
Read article →Video GOP structure architecture
Deep-dive on Group-of-Pictures structure: I/P/B frame references, IDR frames, closed vs open GOPs, decode vs display order and reorder buffers, GOP le…
Read article →H.264 (AVC)
How H.264 became the standard video codec, its features, and why it's still dominant.
Read article →H.265 (HEVC)
How H.265 delivers 50% better compression than H.264, and why patent complexity slowed adoption.
Read article →HDR video architecture
Deep-dive on HDR video: BT.2020, PQ/HLG, HDR10, Dolby Vision, HDR10+, static + dynamic metadata, tone mapping, SDR fallback.
Read article →HLS
How HLS delivers video via HTTP as segments referenced by playlists, and the m3u8 manifest format.
Read article →Just-in-time video packaging architecture
Deep-dive on just-in-time (JIT) video packaging: the mezzanine-plus-packager model, building HLS/DASH manifests and rewrapping CMAF containers per dev…
Read article →Live streaming architecture
Deep-dive on live video streaming: ingest, chunked transcode, LL-HLS/CMAF, CDN + shielding, ABR player, captions, DVR, and QoE analytics.
Read article →Low-latency live streaming
Deep-dive on low-latency live video: encoder and GOP settings, chunked CMAF packaging, LL-HLS partial segments and blocking playlists, LL-DASH chunked…
Read article →Video on demand architecture
Deep-dive on VOD: ingest, transcode ladder, packager, storage tiers, CDN, player + ABR, DRM, captions, metadata, QoE analytics.
Read article →Per-title encoding
Deep-dive on per-title encoding: content complexity analysis, the quality-bitrate convex hull, VMAF perceptual quality, tailored per-title ladders, pe…
Read article →Perceptual Video Quality Metrics
VMAF, SSIM, PSNR — when each one lies.
Read article →SCTE-35 and SSAI architecture
Deep-dive on SCTE-35 and server-side ad insertion: how splice cues mark avails, packager IDR-alignment and HLS/DASH manifest signalling, the SSAI stit…
Read article →WebRTC SFU -- scaling multi-party video
Deep-dive on the WebRTC SFU: the mesh scaling problem (N^2 connections, uplink exhaustion), the SFU's selective forwarding, f…
Read article →Server-side ad insertion (SSAI) architecture
Deep-dive on SSAI ad stitching: SCTE-35 ad-break signaling, VAST ad decisioning per session, conforming creatives to the content rendition profile, sp…
Read article →Video Streaming Architecture in Depth
A 2500-word walkthrough of video streaming: ingest, transcode, package, origin, CDN, player with ABR, DRM, analytics, ad insertion, live vs VOD.
Read article →Video Streaming Protocols
The main video streaming protocols: HLS (Apple), DASH (open), WebRTC (real-time), and when to use each.
Read article →Video super-resolution architecture
Deep-dive on video super-resolution: the frame buffer and temporal neighborhood, motion alignment via optical flow, the SR network that synthesizes hi…
Read article →Video Thumbnail Pipelines at Scale
Frame extraction, smart-crop, and CDN strategy.
Read article →Video Transcoding
How transcoding converts video between codecs, bitrates, and resolutions for delivery to varied clients.
Read article →Video transcoding architecture
Deep-dive on video transcoding: segmentation, encode ladder, codec choice, packaging, storage tiers, QC with VMAF, idempotency.
Read article →VMAF Quality Metrics: Architecture Deep-Dive
How a VMAF pipeline predicts human perceptual quality — elementary metrics, SVM fusion, model variants, pooling strategy, and the harness failures tha…
Read article →WebRTC video pipeline architecture
Deep-dive on the WebRTC video pipeline: the 200ms latency budget, capture-to-render media plane, ICE/STUN/TURN traversal, transport-wide congestion co…
Read article →WebRTC Video
How WebRTC delivers video with sub-second latency for video calls and interactive streaming.
Read article →WebRTC Video Pipeline End to End
Encoding to decoding the path of a video packet.
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