HLS Streaming for XVideoSharing

Deliver video with faster start, instant seeking, and adaptive bitrate (ABR) across all devices. The HLS mod segments video into short chunks (.ts) and serves a playlist (.m3u8) over standard HTTP for maximum compatibility, caching, and scale.

Key Benefits

• Instant playback & seeking: player fetches the nearest segments; no waiting on large MP4 headers.
• Adaptive Bitrate (ABR): automatically switches quality based on real-time bandwidth to reduce buffering.
• Mobile-first compatibility: excellent support on iOS/Android and modern desktop browsers.
• CDN-friendly: small segmented files cache well across proxies and CDNs for peak-load stability.
• Fits the XVS stack: works with XVideoSharing encoders, storage sharding, and supported HTML5 players.

How It Works

1. Encode multi-bitrate renditions (e.g., 240p → 1080p) to enable adaptive switching.
2. Segment the video into short chunks (typically 2–6s) as .ts files.
3. Generate an HLS playlist (.m3u8) that references segments and available qualities.
4. Player starts immediately using the first segments and switches quality dynamically to avoid stalls.

Best-Fit Use Cases

• Public video portals / “tube” sites with significant mobile traffic.
• High-variance traffic projects that benefit from CDN caching and efficient delivery.
• Live workflows (with the Live Streaming mod): ingest via RTMP, distribute to viewers via HLS.

Compatibility & Extensions

• Devices: iOS, Android, and modern desktop browsers (HTML5).
• Players: XVideoSharing supports multiple HTML5 players; HLS is played natively or via hls.js depending on browser.
• Related mods: Live Streaming, REST API, Subtitles (SRT/VTT), Time Slider Preview, Screenlist.

FAQ