Adaptive bitrate streaming

Adaptive bitrate streaming delivers media in small segments and switches among encoded quality levels as network conditions and playback conditions change.

HTTP Live Streaming: Apple’s adaptive streaming protocol delivers media through playlists and HTTP segments. It implements adaptation by offering alternative media playlists and short segments.
Video codec: Software or hardware that encodes and decodes digital video. Each available quality level is encoded into a representation the client can decode.
Constant bitrate: An encoding mode that targets a steady data rate over time. Unlike adaptive delivery, a fixed-rate stream does not switch among quality representations.
YouTube: A video-sharing platform operated by Google. Its video playback uses adaptive delivery to serve varied devices and connection speeds.
Rebuffering: An interruption in playback while a streaming player waits for additional media data. Reducing representation bitrate can prevent the buffer from running dry.
Dynamic Adaptive Streaming over HTTP: An international standard for streaming media over HTTP using descriptions and segmented representations. Its manifest and representation model formalize bitrate switching across devices and services.
Video bitrate: The number of bits used to represent video per unit of time. It is the principal rate that streaming adaptation raises or lowers.
Variable bitrate: An encoding mode that varies data rate according to the complexity of the media. It changes bitrate within an encoded stream, not necessarily in response to network conditions.
Netflix: A subscription streaming service for films, television series, and other video content. Its streaming system adapts playback quality to changing network capacity.
Video quality switching: A change in a video stream’s encoded quality during playback. Frequent or abrupt switches are a visible cost of adapting to fluctuating capacity.

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