Content delivery network or CDN is a service that speeds up internet content delivery. It places content delivery network points scattered across the globe to enable everyone a fair chance at high-speed access. The rationale behind using CDN is to remove the bottleneck traffic that stems from streaming through a single server.
Viewers from all around the world have access to better quality content, owing to CDN. Website creators use video CDN to make their websites more agile. For example, a website is being accessed in 4 different cities, out of which two are closer to the host while two are further away.
The further away areas will take longer to load and display than those closer to the host. People use video CDN for this purpose. It dwindles the distance between the user and the content, thereby making this process much faster.
Unlike the situation mentioned in the above example, the further situated areas will initiate an access request received by the content delivery network service and then equally scattered around the globe. So, from one source, the data is now even distributed to the closer and other areas.
The distant located areas can now access this information from their closest geographical locations. The most significant advantage of employing a content delivery service is the time reduction to deliver the service in the fastest and most scalable manner. The host server is also relieved of unsurmountable pressure since the data retrievable points are scattered throughout.
How content delivery network or CDN is necessary for live streaming?
As seen above, CDN or content delivery network helps augment the server’s speed by scattering it around different parts of the world. It provides close access points for far-off geographical locations. The servers are safely connected through a private network that avoids data leakage and is entirely secure.
It helps in reducing the server load by equally balancing it. CDN can be used in a variety of situations, including live streaming. Imagine a platform like Netflix operating out of the United States. In the absence of CDN, people situated in India would have an adamant time streaming their shows due to its tremendous location gap.
However, when content delivery networks and live streaming work in tandem, CDN dwindles the pressure, individual servers endure. It also enables more people to stream these live videos in a scalable and agile manner. As a result, the transition time significantly falls because the servers are connected to their closest access point present in the proximity of their geographical location.
People witnessed faster delivery and diminished buffering time. While streaming videos, it can be exceedingly pesky to rotate the buffer sign on one’s screens constantly. Hence, CDN is highly crucial in live video streaming.
By 2022, the use of CDN will notably rise because video streaming has become more popular in the past few years. Unlike watching television, people now use the internet and peculiar streaming services to watch different shows and videos.
CDN comprises the world wide web and has enabled high-speed and high-quality content that can be accessed online. It has helped bridge the geographical gaps and sanctioned equal streaming quality, devoid of interruptions for everyone. The spinning wheel, or buffering as we popularly know it, has reduced over time because of the content delivery network.
Conclusion
Hence, CDN has carved a place for itself on the world wide web.
