What is adaptive streaming?
Adaptive streaming divides video into small segments and offers multiple qualities. The player automatically selects the best quality based on bandwidth.
HLS (HTTP Live Streaming)
Created by Apple. The most compatible format. Uses .m3u8 files for playlists and .ts or .fmp4 for segments.
DASH (Dynamic Adaptive Streaming over HTTP)
Open standard (MPEG-DASH). Uses .mpd files (Media Presentation Description). More efficient than HLS in some aspects.
Video codecs
H.264 is most compatible. H.265/HEVC offers better compression but less support. AV1 is the future: royalty-free with excellent compression.
Content preparation
Use FFmpeg to transcode and segment videos:
ffmpeg -i input.mp4 -c:v libx264 -c:a aac -hls_time 6 -hls_playlist_type vod output.m3u8
Web players
HLS.js, Shaka Player (DASH), Video.js, and JW Player. All support adaptive playback.
DRM
Widevine, PlayReady, and FairPlay protect premium content. EME (Encrypted Media Extensions) is the browser API.
Conclusion
Adaptive streaming is essential for quality video delivery. At Vynta we implement complete streaming pipelines with HLS, DASH, and DRM.