What is SRT: Everything You Need to Know about SRT Streaming Protocol
Blog Post
SRT also known as Secure Reliable Transport, is an open source protocol which has been existing over the last 6+ years, but its popularity has recently started gaining after adoption by leaders like FoxNews to AL Jazeera and even NASA! Developed by Haivision and promoted by SRT Alliance, the cutting-edge protocol has gained prominence for its ability to deliver smooth streams, minimal lag, and pristine video quality. In this blog we will cover what SRT is, its benefits, how it works, and in short everything you would need to know about SRT.
SRT is a streaming protocol designed by Haivision to deliver low-latency audio and video streams across public and private networks. It is an open-source video transport protocol designed to deliver high-quality, low-latency video over unpredictable networks like the internet. It’s specifically built for live video streaming applications where a smooth and secure delivery is crucial, such as broadcasting, video conferencing, and remote production.
In a nutshell, SRT brings the best quality live video over unreliable networks. It accounts for packet loss, jitter, and fluctuating bandwidth all while maintaining the integrity and quality of video. Also, SRT can be considered as a secure protocol as it is AES encrypted and can easily traverse firewalls.
SRT was originally developed and pioneered by Haivision in 2012 to reduce the expenses of video contribution by satellite and private networks. The protocol was first demoed at IBC the following year, and Haivision soon released it as part of their product family.
The SRT Alliance is now a community of 600 industry leaders and developers striving to achieve lower latency video transport by continuously innovating SRT. It includes members like AWS, CloudFlare, Google Cloud, Microsoft, NVIDIA, Paramount, SK Telecom, Sony, and YouTube, to name a few.
“The mission of the SRT Alliance is to overcome the challenges of low-latency video streaming, thereby changing the way the world streams. Fundamental to this mission is the support of a freely available open-source video transport protocol that will accelerate innovation through collaborative development. The SRT Alliance will promote the industry-wide recognition and adoption of SRT as a common standard for all low-latency internet streaming.”
Haivision subsequently released SRT on GitHub to encourage interoperability.
Today, more than 450 technology vendors are actively collaborating on SRT to ensure SRT’s dominance as standard low-latency technology in the broadcast and streaming industries.
The technical information below is SRT at a glance:
SRT solves latency issues that entail live video transport like a pro such as packet loss, jitter, and bandwidth limitations. The protocol features:
Here’s a thorough breakdown of how SRT works:
As you would have already understood by now, SRT’s primary advantages are its security and reliability. However, it has many others by virtue of which it has earned a sp