HTTP Dynamic Streaming / FAQ

HTTP Dynamic Streaming enables high-quality (H.264 or VP6), network-efficient HTTP streaming for media delivery that is tightly integrated with Adobe® Access software for robust content protection in the Adobe Flash® Player 10.1 or later and Adobe AIR® 2 or later runtimes. This open format solution allows online publishers to leverage existing network and cache infrastructures to efficiently deliver media content to the Adobe Flash Platform. Adobe Flash Media Server software will continue to be a great option for streaming, multiway communication, as well as advanced interactive experiences such as quick start times and quick seeking. Like Flash Media Server 4.5, HTTP Dynamic Streaming supports quality of service (QoS) monitoring, adaptive bitrate streaming, and DVR functionality. The HTTP Dynamic Streaming workflow includes content preparation tools, fragmented MP4 files that are HTTP cache‐friendly, a playback framework (Open Source Media Framework, or OSMF), and options for protected streaming powered by Adobe Access, continuing to make the Flash Platform the choice for reliable delivery of protected, high-quality playback experiences.

HTTP Dynamic Streaming utilizes the same HTTP server technology used to delivery progressive downloaded video. The new technology is different because it adds:

• Multibitrate support — ability to shift quality depending on bandwidth and computer power. HTTP progressive delivery consumes more bandwidth because it's not intelligent enough to throttle the delivery (for example, a 30-minute video will be fully downloaded whether the user watches it or not).
• Seeking within the video — ability to move around within a long-format video without downloading it first
• Bandwidth control — ability to manage download bandwidth to not disrupt other applications
• Support for live streaming with DVR and real-time protection using Adobe Access

To deliver a streaming experience over HTTP, media assets need to go through a fragmentation process that can also apply content protection (called fragmenting), and a special module installed in the HTTP server is required. The player can be built using OSMF, just like progressive download.

HTTP Dynamic Streaming builds on the success of streaming delivery through Flash Media Server. This new technology matches the quality of service, rendering quality, buffer controls, and other important aspects of media delivery required to deliver a great experience to the end user. Flash Media Server provides a high-performance, turnkey delivery server that can protect and deliver any content with a very simple publishing workflow, with support for multibitrate delivery. HTTP allows the publisher and delivery network to customize and optimize the publishing workflow to maximize capacity and reach, using standard network and caching infrastructures.

HTTP Dynamic Streaming requires Flash Player 10.1 or later or Adobe AIR 2 or later. For fastest deployment, Adobe recommends using OSMF, which is currently supported on Flash Player 10.1 (future support for AIR is planned).

No — unless they're in a location outside the reach of Flash Media Server, or behind a firewall that doesn't allow RTMP delivery, then they should receive a significantly improved experience. Multibitrate switching will respond just as it does with Dynamic Streaming on Flash Media Server triggered by expected frame rate and/or bandwidth changes (good or bad).

If developers use OSMF today to develop their media players, then there should be limited impact; however, if developers are creating media players without OSMF, there will be a significant impact — as most of the stream logic occurs in ActionScript® at the client. Adobe recommends all developers consider OSMF for developing media players.

Existing Flash Media Server/RTMP workflows are fully supported. For content protection, an Adobe Access license will be required to encrypt the live streams. Customers can use third-party live encoders to prepare for HTTP delivery, or contact Adobe for additional options.

A new file format is required (F4F). This new file format is based on the standards-based MP4 fragment format. Reencoding is required only for adaptive bit rate experiences where keyframes are not aligned. Recorded content delivered with HTTP Dynamic Streaming will need to go through a new packaging and protection process.

HTTP Dynamic Streaming is designed for online publishers that deliver to large audiences requiring high capacity and scalability to meet traffic peaks or those customers with high-quality video leveraging the benefits and reach of the Adobe Flash Platform.

HTTP Dynamic Streaming expands the capacity available to media publishers because content delivery networks (CDNs) can leverage more of their network to bring the content closer to the end user, which will help reduce disruptions due to network performance. HTTP delivery also enables content to be cached outside the CDN, helping to reduce delivery costs.

Adobe provides a full-featured HTTP delivery solution with the greatest reach of any media delivery platform.

• Reach — Flash Player is a cross-platform browser plug-in that delivers breakthrough online experiences to over 99% of Internet users.
• Open standards — HTTP Dynamic Streaming is built on standards and deployed using standard HTTP servers (Apache), standard media format (MP4 fragment) using standard codecs (H.264/AAC), open APIs (Flash Player), and an open source framework for building media players (OSMF). The file format will also be published, enabling advanced use cases of the format.
• Live publishing options — HTTP Dynamic Streaming supports a separate process for packaging and protecting live content — allowing any RTMP stream to be easily converted to a file format that can be delivered through HTTP.
• Interactivity — On the Flash Platform, media delivery can be synchronized with real-time interactivity and robust logging, all within the same application. Flash Player is also used by over 70% of web games, making it easy to add even more social and interactive experiences to media.
• Content protection — With Adobe Access support in Flash Player 10.1, Adobe can offer a robust, protected solution for content delivery and monetization.

The best way to implement HTTP Dynamic Streaming within a media player is to use OSMF. OSMF has made it simple to provide a seamless user experience, including parsing manifest files, handling URL requests, integrating Adobe Access protection, utilizing multibitrate delivery, implementing DVR, monitoring quality of service (QoS) metrics, and so on. OSMF has been developed by Adobe and leading experts in the community.

The VOD File Packager will be available as a free download. You can download the tools. The Live Packager will be available for purchase — find out more.