Other Approaches

Because we're mostly concerned with S3 and file storage in this course, we won't be doing a deep dive on all the file formats for video streaming. That said, I want to briefly cover a few of the most common ones, and point out when you might need to ditch a "plain" .mp4 file.

1. Adaptive streaming: Standard mp4 files have a single resolution and bitrate. If a user's connection speed is unstable, HLS or MPEG-DASH allows for changing the quality of the stream on the fly. You may have noticed on YouTube or Netflix that your video quality changes based on your connection speed. Dropping to lower resolution is better than endlessly buffering.
2. Live streaming: Standard mp4 files are not designed to be updated in real-time. You'd want to use a lower-latency protocol like WebRTC or RTMP for live streaming.