EP05: How Simulcast works and what it's for
Episode 5 of 20 in the **PPCDN Low-Latency Live Streaming Course * — building a self-hosted, low-latency live-streaming CDN from protocols to global delivery. Originally published on the PPCDN docs site ; see the full course index for all episodes.* Recap EP04 "Transport showdown: RTMP / SRT / WHIP" covered how the three ingest protocols handle loss Next EP06 "Publish/play security: signing,…
EP05 explores how Simulcast functions and its purpose within low-latency live streaming CDNs. Unlike the traditional method of server-side transcoding, Simulcast involves producing multiple quality layers simultaneously at the sender. Each layer is an independent, decodable encoding, such as 1080p, 720p, and 360p for a 1080p input.
This eliminates the need for server decode and re-encode, resulting in no additional processing latency. Simulcast's popularity stems from its compatibility with most WebRTC products and target devices, aiming to balance quality and compatibility.
Written by urgent.news from Dev.to's reporting — not their text. Machine-written — may contain errors; check the original before relying on it.
