5 Best Video Streaming Protocols For Professional Streamers
Blog Post
Selecting the right video streaming protocol for your streaming needs can be a daunting task. Especially in today’s times when there are so many different options available to choose from, it makes it more difficult since different video streaming protocols come with their own set of advantages as well as limitations. Professional streaming today is a skillful combination of the right hardware, compatible streaming protocol, software optimizations, and much more. Every decision you make towards your professional live-streaming journey has to be carefully evaluated for its potential compatibility with all other parameters.
In this blog, we will discuss some of the best video streaming protocols to help you in this protocol selection process. All these protocols come with their pros and cons and we believe this blog will ultimately help you identify what video streaming protocol to choose.
A protocol is a set of rules that needs to be followed. Video streaming protocols are nothing but a defined set of rules that manage data communication from one system to another when a particular content is streamed. It is a standard method of breaking a video into small chunks, sending it to the viewer who requested it, and then assembling the information into the video file to be streamed on the device.
Essentially storage of video and playback on the same device is very different from streaming content and that is where these protocols come into place. Above is a simple explanation of how a protocol works but it gets complex as we move further.
A good video streaming protocol must also include adaptive bitrate flexibility to allow the best possible video quality to be streamed depending on the internet speed of the user. There are live-streaming events such as sports that require low latency in video playback so that sporting action is delivered in real time. A good video streaming protocol also includes provisions for low latency live streaming.
Real-Time Messaging Protocol or RTMP is used for streaming video and audio files over the internet. It is one of the most widely used protocols that specializes in low-latency streaming requirements making it an ideal choice for live streaming content in a modified format.
RTMP was developed by Macromedia as a supporting tool for Flash Player. It was then acquired by Adobe which released a version of RTMP for public use.
Mostly used for ingest live-streaming, RTMP requires a flash plugin to function that is not used anymore. It is therefore collaborated with other streaming protocols such as HLS to deliver video content. One of the most popular protocols of streaming in the early days, RTMP streaming today does not find many users owing to its dependency on Flash player that most browsers have stopped supporting.
Saying RTMP(FLASH) is dead may be right here but that does not mean we do not have any other applications of RTMP. Due to its low latency, RTMP Ingest is still considered as the best form for live st