<p>ABR formats like HLS and DASH allow the client to adapt the its specific conditions, providing a better experience. faster startup, faster seeks, less buffering, etc.</p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2020-05-07T21:40:31.500Z
2020-05-07T21:40:31.500Z
SlimSCSI
<p>Is there an advantage of serving static video content (not a live stream) via adaptive streaming protocols such as HLS or DASH over serving them directly as files using HTTP server in terms of speed? </p>

<p>Example case is when you have a 500MB mp4 h264+AAC video that you have to serve on a website via HTML5 video element. Would you rather serve it directly, since most popular browsers implement functions such as seek without downloading the whole file first; or would you rather use ffmpeg or similar solution to create HLS chunks from the mp4 file and instead provide .m3u8 playlist source to the HTML5 video element. Is there a real advantage in terms of speed of doing this?</p>

<p>Which one would you implement if you had hundreds of video files all served as static content?</p>

<ffmpeg><streaming><mpeg-dash><hls>
Serving static video content directly vs. via adaptive streaming protocols (HLS, DASH)
astralmaster
# Serving static video content directly vs. via adaptive streaming protocols (HLS, DASH)

(Asked by: username_0 on 2020-05-07)

Is there an advantage of serving static video content (not a live stream) via adaptive streaming protocols such as HLS or DASH over serving them directly as files using HTTP server in terms of speed?

Example case is when you have a 500MB mp4 h264+AAC video that you have to serve on a website via HTML5 video element. Would you rather serve it directly, since most popular browsers implement functions such as seek without downloading the whole file first; or would you rather use ffmpeg or similar solution to create HLS chunks from the mp4 file and instead provide .m3u8 playlist source to the HTML5 video element. Is there a real advantage in terms of speed of doing this?

Which one would you implement if you had hundreds of video files all served as static content?

**Tags:** ffmpeg, streaming, mpeg-dash, hls


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## 1 answers

### Answer by username_1 on 2020-05-07. Score: 0

ABR formats like HLS and DASH allow the client to adapt the its specific conditions, providing a better experience. faster startup, faster seeks, less buffering, etc.


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