We recently talked about CDNs in our guide to Stop Buffering When Live Streaming.
What a Content Delivery Network does
A CDN stores your video on multiple servers across the world when streaming viewers watch your video from the server that’s closest to them.
Live Streaming CDN prevents buffering, slowdowns, stream interruptions, and other glitches that can ruin an otherwise excellent video viewing experience. Because viewers can stream without buffering, they can also watch in much higher quality than usual.
A CDN is also more reliable. Storing your videos on multiple servers ensures viewers can always watch your videos, even if one server crashes. If your video went viral in South America, the sudden rush of traffic might cause the SA server to crash, but Brazilians can still stream (with a bit more lag) from one of the other servers all over the world.
And finally, a CDN also makes you more secure to DDoS attacks thanks to its redundancies.
How to choose a CDN
Here are some things to look for when you’re choosing a CDN for livestreaming
✔️ they have servers close to most of your viewers
✔️ they have backup servers, so if one server crashes, your viewers can still watch your videos from the failover servers.
✔️ They use high quality and reliable servers. Currently, the most reliable servers are Akamai’s (responsible for serving between 15% and 30% of all web traffic and 96% of US traffic)
✔️ their system is easy to use with your current setup and compatible with our video hosting, your favourite audio and video formats, and additional services you may use (e.g. live chat widget)
✔️ they’re specialized for live video streaming, as video streams use a lot more data and need consistent load speeds.
How to get a Live Video Streaming CDN easily
Most CDNs offer quarterly or yearly contracts, billed on a per-GB basis. You could easily connect and deliver your streams using a live streaming CDN.
A far better option is to get a live streaming service that also offers CDN support. This way, you don’t have to spend any extra effort setting up your CDN, and you get a specialized CDN for a minimal fee with more features.
Not to brag, but all castr.com accounts come with Akamai CDN (the same one used by Apple, Facebook, Twitter, Google, and Healthcare.gov) that’s made for customized for live video streaming, AND you get:
✔️ Cloud storage
✔️ Your own video player so you can live stream directly from your own website
✔️ Adaptive Bitrate transcoding for live streaming and videos uploaded to Castr.
Hosting videos via CDN is also accessible using Castr, you can upload your videos, and Castr will convert the videos into multiple bitrates for smoother delivery across multiple devices. The videos will get delivered via Akamai CDN for more seamless playback across the globe.
If you are delivering content to OTT platforms like Roku, Smart TV, Android TV, Apple TV and more then HLS URL is required and using Castr, you can get the HLS URL, which you can use it with the OTT devices.
A Live Streaming CDN is required if you’re serious about growing your audience across the globe and for providing a smooth streaming experience. And you’re welcome to try Castr out for free and watch your viewers grow.
Start streaming your next live streaming event and host the recorded contents using Castr, you can deliver the streams using Adaptive Bitrate Transcoding and get the best in class quality of Akamai CDN.
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