What is live streaming?

Unlike traditional broadcasting, where content distributors rely on pre-recorded videos and edited media content, live streaming enables content creators to reach target audiences instantaneously. Viewers can watch events (such as concerts, sporting events, product launches, webinars and video game streams) as they happen and in many cases, interact directly using chat, comment and reaction features.

Live streaming has reshaped how people connect with content, offering viewers real-time, global access to events and enabling distributors to deliver more immersive content to viewers.

And as streaming technologies and capabilities evolve, viewership of live streams—and their usefulness to businesses—will likely continue to expand. In the last quarter of 2023, nearly 30% of internet users worldwide watched some form of live streaming content weekly.¹

As such, live streaming can serve as a powerful tool for enterprises looking to develop and promote engaging, innovative entertainment, education and business products.

Live streaming requires several key processes to deliver low-latency content to users:

Live stream events start with raw audio and video data captured by content sources (the cameras and microphones that are attached to smartphones, webcams and professional recording devices).

Before streaming, the raw video and audio signals must be encoded into a digital format (a series of 1s and 0s) and compressed (reduced in size by eliminating redundant elements) to make them suitable for transmission over the internet.

If, for instance, a video’s first frame shows a person speaking against a purple background, the purple background can be reused in subsequent frames without needing to be fully rendered again.

The process is akin to cataloging books in a library. The librarian processes and catalogs new books as they arrive in the library and stores basic publication information (title, author, publisher and publication date) in an easily accessible location within the library’s network.

If the librarian gets a new edition of a book series that the library already owns, the librarian doesn’t have to catalog the whole series; they can just add information on any new volumes in the series to the existing records. Encoding is the process of converting the data into a digital format that various devices can understand. Common encoding standards include MP3, AAC, H.264, H.265, VP9 and AV1e3.

Live streaming platforms can encode data by using dedicated encoding devices (hardware encoders), which provide the streaming capacity necessary for high-performance professional broadcasts. However, they can also use computer applications as encoders (called software encoders), which offer businesses a more flexible and cost-effective option for streaming smaller-scale productions.

Digital media content—especially live streaming video content—contains massive quantities of data. To maintain a live stream, streaming tools divide data into smaller segments (typically, a few seconds apiece) and transmit them as content segments.

After the content is compressed, encoded and segmented, it’s ready to be distributed to viewers. To deliver a high-quality, low-latency live stream (to potentially millions of users), streaming services rely on content delivery networks (CDNs).

A CDN is a geographically dispersed server network that locates cached copies of web content closer to users (at the “edge” of the network) and delivers content on behalf of the origin server. So, instead of the origin server handling user requests, nearby CDN servers handle data requests and routing.

For live streaming, the CDN temporarily saves each segment of the live stream so that most viewers can access it from the CDN cache on the nearest streaming server and watch the stream in near-real time.

Using a dedicated media player, a browser-based player or a media player embedded in a social media platform (Facebook Live and Instagram Live and TikTok live streaming, for example), each user device engaged with the live stream receives, decodes and decompresses the segmented live stream data. This process enables the live stream content to play continuously.

With live video streaming, adaptive bit rate streaming features within streaming services also enable users’ media players to dynamically adjust video quality based on the viewer's internet speed, helping to minimize buffering issues.

Let’s say a panel of subject matter experts start streaming from a laptop in New York, while in Sydney, a viewer joins the live stream on their smartphone. A member of the panel starts the live stream by positioning the camera to face the panel and greeting viewers to make sure the live stream is working.

First, the viewer’s smartphone encodes and compresses the video of the expert’s greeting. Because the panel is live broadcasting from a conference room office, the initial frame captures the conference room wall. As they continue to broadcast, the background remains unchanged, so compression gets more efficient.

Then, the panel’s streaming application sends the encoded, compressed video to its CDN. The content is delivered to viewers through the CDN server closest to their location. For example, the Sydney viewer might access the content from a CDN server in Sydney or in Southeast Asia. This helps reduce lag and drive faster load times. Viewers located farther from CDN servers might experience longer delays.

When the viewer’s phone receives the live stream data, it decodes the video and reconstructs the compressed information so that the conference room wall appears consistently in every frame.

Shortly after the expert panel greeted viewers, their image and greeting are displayed on the viewer’s smartphone for them to watch and listen until the stream is ended or the viewer disengages.

The Sydney viewer—and any others who live near CDN servers—receives the stream in near real time. Viewers farther away from servers will experience slightly longer delays, varying based on proximity and other network factors.

CDNs enable faster, smoother live stream performance by distributing content through servers that are situated closer to users than to the website's origin server (the physical computer or server that stores and computes content for a website or web page).

These edge servers—also called “caches” or “caching servers”—act as gateways between users and the internet. Each edge server in a geographically distributed network stores copies of a subset of the web content—including HTML files, images, audio and video—from the host server. That way, when a user requests live stream content, they can receive the stream from servers a few miles away (instead of hundreds or thousands of miles away).

Keeping with the expert panel example, imagine the website that initiated the live stream resides on an origin server also located in New York. Instead of using the New York-based origin server for content distribution to Sydney, the CDN serves the Sydney user from edge servers located in Sydney.

The caching mechanisms within CDN servers bring files closer to customers, decreasing the time it takes for the data to stream across the network (called latency). CDNs also help streamers reduce load times for users and minimize cost and bandwidth consumption.

Live streaming protocols are essential for delivering real-time audio and video content over the internet and each protocol has specific applications. Choosing the right protocol to support live streams depends on factors such as the target audience, device compatibility, network conditions and specific use cases.

The most widely used protocols include:

Developed by Adobe, RTMP is among the first protocols used for live streaming. It’s a stateful protocol (it doesn’t store user data between interactions) primarily used to stream audio, video and data over the internet. RTMP is commonly used alongside Adobe Flash Player, but its use has declined since Flash became obsolete.

RTSP is a network control protocol that allows clients to control the playback of streaming media by enabling pause, rewind and fast-forward functions. The RTSP works with real-time transport protocol (RTP) to deliver media data to user devices, especially those running surveillance and monitoring applications. 

The HLS protocol was developed by Apple to work over standard HTTP, making it firewall-friendly and straightforward to implement. HLS is commonly used to deliver video-on-demand and live video files to a wide range of devices (including smartphones, tablets and smart TVs), especially those relying on iOS and macOS.

DASH is an international standard—developed by the media coding standards alliance, Moving Picture Experts Group (MPEG)—that enables adaptive streaming of a wide variety of codecs and formats. DASH uses a manifest file (a simple text file containing metadata for a group of files) to describe media segment locations and their attributes, enabling high-quality streaming in both live and on-demand streaming environments.

SRT is a highly reliable, open source streaming protocol that helps businesses deliver smooth live streams across unpredictable networks. SRT encrypts data to protect content during transmission and recovers well from data packet loss, making it well-suited for live streaming in professional broadcasting environments.

WebRTC is a secured, open source protocol that enables real-time, peer-to-peer communication in web browsers using simple application programming interfaces (APIs). WebRTC can help content providers deliver secure video, audio and data streams without downloading new apps and plug-ins.

Live streaming software has changed how media content is consumed and shared and its versatility enables applications across business sectors and use cases.

Social media gaming platforms such as Twitch, YouTube Live and Facebook Gaming have created vibrant communities around content creators and their audiences. Gamers can stream their gameplay, offering commentary, insights and direct interaction with viewers.

And live streaming concerts, theater performances and music festivals can help streamers reach a global audience, offering behind-the-scenes content and interactive experiences to users.

Live streaming apps offers clients an innovative way to engage with customers and increase brand loyalty and customer trust. Companies can use it for product launches, demonstrations, sponsorship announcements and virtual events to showcase their offerings and interact with customers in real time.

They can also stream webinars and live Q&A sessions to help generate business leads, provide customer support and establish thought leadership.

Live streaming enables news organizations to cover events and breaking news in real time. Journalists can stream live from the field to give audiences immediate access to significant events. Viewers can also use streaming platforms to watch live TV broadcasts.

This immediacy enhances the impact of news reporting and facilitates direct viewer interaction, with live interviews and discussion panels.

Companies often use video conferencing software (Zoom, for instance) to live stream internal communications events, such as town hall meetings, announcements, onboarding and training sessions.

The strategic use of live streaming to deliver important communications enables all employees—regardless of location—to receive information simultaneously and to engage directly with company leadership.

Broadcasting networks, sports leagues and teams use live streaming to broadcast games and matches worldwide, so that fans can experience the excitement of the event as if they were there in person. Streaming platforms also offer features such as multiple camera angles, live analytics and interactive chat to enhance the viewing experience.

Live streaming is an invaluable tool for fostering connection and interaction between clients and consumers. Live streaming services offer businesses several key benefits:

• Real-time user engagement. Live streaming enables real-time interaction with viewers using comment and question features, which helps foster a sense of community and connection.

• Wider reach. Live streams can reach a global audience instantly, breaking geographical barriers and allowing creators and distributors to connect with viewers from different regions.

• Cost-effectiveness. Compared to traditional broadcasting, live streaming requires minimal equipment and financial expenditure, making it accessible to individuals, small businesses and enterprises.

• Authenticity. Live content often feels more genuine and organic to viewers; the authenticity factor can help content creators foster trust and loyalty among viewers.

• Immediate feedback. Content creators and distributors can receive instant feedback from audiences, allowing them to adjust their content or approach as they stream.

• Content repurposing. Businesses can record and repurpose live streams for other forms of digital content, such as video clips, podcasts and articles.

However, live streaming can present a few challenges.

If, for instance, users experience significant latency in a live stream, they might stop interacting with it. This is especially true for gaming and sports live streams. Furthermore, high-quality live streams have substantial bandwidth and internet connection requirements. Insufficient network bandwidth and weak connections can degrade the viewing experience for users.

As digital and media technologies advance, so too will the capabilities of live streaming.

Virtual reality (VR), augmented reality (AR) and mixed reality (MR)—all of which allow users to interact with partially or fully simulated digital environments—are more accessible than ever. When integrated with advanced live streaming tools, these technologies have the potential to create fully immersive streaming experiences for viewers. Multiplatform streaming can help content creators live stream to different audiences across various platforms.

And using AI and machine learning technologies, live streaming solutions can provide auto-captioning and interactive overlay functions, personalize content recommendations, optimize stream quality and automate content moderation to create smoother, safer, more accessible streaming experiences.