HTTP Live Streaming playlist Filename extension .m3u8
Internet media type application/vnd.apple.mpegurl[1]
Developed by Apple Inc. Initial release May 2009 Extended from extended M3U HTTP Live Streaming (also known as HLS) is an HTTP-based media streaming communications protocol implemented by Apple Inc. as part of its QuickTime, Safari, OS X, and iOS software. It resembles MPEG-DASH in that it works by breaking the overall stream into a sequence of small HTTP-based file downloads, each download loading one short chunk of an overall potentially unbounded transport stream. As the stream is played, the client may select from a number of different alternate streams containing the same material encoded at a variety of data rates, allowing the streaming session to adapt to the available data rate. At the start of the streaming session, HLS downloads an extended M3U playlist containing the metadata for the various sub-streams which are available.[2]
Since its requests use only standard HTTP transactions, HTTP Live Streaming can traverse any firewall or proxy server that lets through standard HTTP traffic, unlike UDP-based protocols such as RTP. This also allows content to be offered from conventional HTTP servers as origin and delivered over widely available HTTP-based content delivery networks.[3]
HLS also specifies a standard encryption mechanism[4] using AES and a method of secure-key distribution using HTTPS with either a device-specific realm login or HTTP cookie which together provide a simple DRM system. Later versions of the protocol also provide for trick-mode fast-forward and rewind and for integration of subtitles. upLynk has also added the AES scrambling and base-64 encoding of the DRM content-key with a 128-bit device-specific key for registered commercial SWF applications together with a sequential initialization Vector for each chunk to its implementation of the standard.[5]
Apple has documented HTTP Live Streaming as an Internet Draft (Individual Submission), the first stage in the process of publishing it as a Request for Comments (RFC). As of December 2015, the authors of that document have requested the RFC Independent Stream Editor (ISE) to publish the document as an informational (non-standard) RFC outside of the IETF consensus process.[6] August 2017, RFC8216 was published to describe version 7 of the protocol.[7]
Architecture
HTTP Live Streaming uses a conventional web server to distribute audiovisual content and requires specific software to fit into the proper format transmission in real time. The service architecture comprises:
- Server
- Codify and encapsulate the input video flow in a proper format for the delivery. Then, it is prepared for distribution by segmenting it into different files. In the process of intake, the video is coded and segmented to generate video fragments and index file.
- Encoder: codify video files in H.264 format and audio in AAC, MP3, AC-3 or EC-3.[8] This is encapsulated by MPEG-2 Transport Stream to carry it
- Segmenter: divides the MPEG-2 TS file into fragments of equal length, kept as .ts files. It also creates an index file that contains references of the fragmented files, saved as .m3u8
- Distributor
- Formed by standard web Server, accepts requests from clients and delivers all the resources (.m3u8 playlist file and .ts segment files) needed for streaming.
- Client
- Request and download all the files and resources, assembling them so that they can be presented to the user as a continuous flow video. The client software downloads first the index file through a URL and then the several media files available. The playback software assembles the sequence to allow continued display to the user.
Features
HTTP Live Streaming provides mechanisms for players to adapt to unreliable network conditions without causing user-visible playback stalling. For example, on an unreliable wireless network, HLS allows the player to use a lower quality video, thus reducing bandwidth usage. HLS videos can be made highly available by providing multiple servers for the same video, allowing the player to swap seamlessly if one of the servers fails.
Adaptability
To enable a player to adapt to the bandwidth of the network, the original video is encoded in several distinct quality levels. The server serves an index, called a “master playlist”, of these encodings, called “variant streams”. The player can then choose between the variant streams during playback, changing back and forth seamlessly as network conditions change.
Availability
The master playlist can list duplicate variant streams that have the same level of quality but are hosted by different servers. This enables the player to swap to a different server for a given bitrate if one of the servers fails. This grants a degree of high availability to serving streams.
This can be combined with adaptability by listing multiple variant streams for each distinct quality level.
movieStream = fs.createReadStream(pathToFile); movieStream.on('open', function () { res.writeHead(206, { "Content-Range": "bytes " + start + "-" + end + "/" + total, "Accept-Ranges": "bytes", "Content-Length": chunksize, "Content-Type": "video/mp4" }); // This just pipes the read stream to the response object (which goes //to the client) movieStream.pipe(res); }); movieStream.on('error', function (err) { res.end(err); });Using fragmented MP4
On WWDC2016 Apple announced[9] the inclusion of byte-range addressing for fragmented MP4 files, or fMP4, allowing content to be played in HLS without the need to multiplex it into MPEG-2 Transport Stream. The industry considered this as a step towards compatibility between HLS and MPEG-DASH.[10][11]
Server implementations
- Adobe Media Server supports HLS for iOS devices (HLS) and Protected HTTP Live Streaming (PHLS).
- Akamai supports HLS for live and on-demand streams.
- Amazon CloudFront supports HLS for on-demand streams.
- CTU Systems Ltd provides the Eludo transcoding service ctusystems.com which supports HLS for on-demand and live streaming.
- bitmovin provides the cloud transcoding service bitcodin.com which supports HLS for on-demand and live streaming.
- CDNetworks supports HLS for live and on-demand streams.
- Cisco Systems: Supports full end to end delivery for Live/TSTV/VOD/HLS and Cloud DVR services.
- EdgeCast Networks supports cross-device streaming using HLS.
- Edgeware: Supports full end to end delivery for Live/TSTV/VOD/HLS.
- Exterity: AvediaStream o7500 Origin Server supports HLS (HTTP Live Streaming)
- Flussonic Media Server[12] supports multibitrate HLS either for transcoding or streaming since 4.3.0 version[13]
- Helix Universal Server from RealNetworks supports iPhone OS 3.0 and later for live and on-demand HTTP Live or On-Demand streaming of H.264 and AAC content to iPhone, iPad and iPod.
- IIS Media Services from Microsoft supports live and on-demand Smooth Streaming and HTTP Live Streaming.
- Keepixo Genova Live does both transcoding to H.264 & HEVC and packaging to HLS, MPEG-DASH, MS Smooth Streaming
- Level 3 supports HLS live and on-demand streams.
- Limelight Networks supports HLS for some accounts.[14]
- Nginx with the nginx-rtmp-module supports HLS in live mode. Commercial version Nginx Plus also supports HLS/HDS VOD.
- Nimble Streamer supports HLS in live and VOD mode.
- Qencode Video Transcoding supports HLS.[15]
- Tata Communications CDN supports HLS for live and on-demand streams.
- TVersity supports HLS in conjunction with on-the-fly transcoding for playback of any video content on iOS devices.
- Unified Origin supports HLS in live and VOD mode.
- Unreal Media Server supports low latency HLS as of version 9.5.
- Ustream supports HLS delivery of live broadcasts. The ingested stream is re-transcoded if the original audio and video codec falls outside HLS requirements.
- VLC Media Player supports HLS for serving live and on-demand streams as of version 2.0
- Wowza Streaming Engine from Wowza Media Systems supports HLS and encrypted HLS for live (with DVR) and on-demand streaming.
Usage
- Adobe Systems demonstrated an update to its Adobe Flash Media Server product supporting HTTP Live Streaming at the NAB Show in April 2011
- Apple Inc. used this on September 1, 2010 to stream its iPod Keynote event live over the internet, and on October 20, 2010 to stream its ‘Back to the Mac’ Keynote event live over the internet.
- Google added HTTP Live Streaming support in Android 3.0 (Honeycomb).[16]
- Helix Universal Server from RealNetworks supports iPhone OS 3.0 and later for live and on-demand HTTP Live or On-Demand streaming of H.264 and AAC content to iPhone, iPad and iPod initial release April 2010, latest release November 2012
- flashls is an open-source Adobe Flash/Adobe AIR plugin that provides HTTP Live Streaming support for Chromeless Flash/Air Player, Flowplayer, Video.js, mediaelement.js and Open Source Media Framework 2.0
- HP added HTTP Live Streaming support in webOS 3.0.5.[17]
- Microsoft added support for HTTP Live Streaming in EdgeHTML rendering engine in Windows 10 in 2015[18]
- Microsoft added support for HTTP Live Streaming in IIS Media Services 4.0.[19]
- Yospace added HTTP Live Streaming support in Yospace HLS Player and SDK for flash version 1.0
- Sling Media added HTTP Live Streaming support to its Slingboxes and its SlingPlayer apps[20]
- In 2014/15, the BBC introduced HLS-AAC streams for its live internet radio and on-demand audio services, and supports those streams with its iPlayer Radio clients.[21]
- hls.js implements HLS in MSE compatible browsers; ability to read ID3 from video pid [22][23]
- hasplayer.js implements HLS in MSE compatible browsers[24]
Supported players and servers
HTTP Live Streaming is natively supported in the following operating systems: Windows 10 (Microsoft Edge), OS X 10.6+ (Safari and QuickTime), iOS 3.0+ (Safari), and Android 4.1+[25] (Google Chrome).
Clients
Product Platform Live Streaming DRM As of Version Editor Safari (web browser) macOS, iOS Yes Yes 6.0+
Has full HLS support.Apple Google Chrome (web browser) Windows, macOS, Android, iOS Partial Yes 30+
Supported on Android and iOS. Unsupported on desktop OSes.Microsoft Edge (web browser) Windows 10 Yes Yes Microsoft Firefox (web browser) Windows, macOS, Android, iOS Partial Yes 50.0+ for Android[26] and 57.0 for others[27] Mozilla QuickTime Player (media player) macOS Yes Yes 10.0+
Has full HLS support.Apple iTunes (music player) Windows, macOS Yes Yes 10.1+[28]
Has full HLS support. To play a HLS stream, go to File > Open Stream and replace “http://” with “itls://” (for video streams) or “itals://” (for audio streams) in the stream URL.Apple VLC media player (media player) Windows, macOS, Linux, Android, iOS, Windows Phone Partial No VLC 2.x[29] has partial up to HLS version 3 support (otherwise will load as M3U playlist, individual chunks sequence).[30]
VLC 3.0 beta has full HLS supportVideoLAN Media Player Classic Home Cinema (media player) Windows Yes Yes Gabest, Doom9 forum users PotPlayer (media player) Windows Yes Yes Daum Communications MPlayer / SMPlayer / mpv (media player) Windows, macOS, Linux Yes Yes Ricardo Villalba GOM Player (media player) Windows Yes Yes Gretech Cameleon (live video streaming software) Windows, macOS Yes Unknown Yatko Audacious (software) (music player) Windows, Linux Yes Yes Audacious Radio Tray (radio player) Linux Yes Yes Carlos Ribeiro Kodi (software) (home entertainment application) Windows, macOS, Linux, Android, iOS Yes Partial 12.0 Alpha 5 and later
DRM support requires a monthly/nightly buildXBMC Foundation MythTV (home entertainment application) Windows, macOS, Linux, FreeBSD Yes Yes 0.26 MythTV JRiver Media Center (home entertainment application) Windows, macOS Yes Yes JRiver XiiaLive (radio player) Android, iOS Yes Yes 3.0+
Plays internet radio streams (audio only).Visual Blasters LLC Tunein radio (radio player) Android, iOS Yes Yes 3.3+
Plays internet radio streams (audio only).TuneIn myTuner Radio (radio player) Android, iOS, Windows Phone, Windows 8, macOS Yes Yes AppGeneration Software Internet Radio Player (radio player) Android Yes Yes MuserTech GuguRadio (radio player) iOS Yes Yes Leon Fan MX Player (media player) Android, iOS Yes Yes J2 Interactive RockPlayer (media player) Android, iOS Yes Yes Shanghai ChangeTech Co. Ltd. DicePlayer (media player) Android 2.2+ Yes Yes Diceplayer 1.0+ INISOFT HP Touchpad WebOS Yes Yes 3.0.5 HP Amino x4x STB Amino set-top boxes Yes Yes 2.5.2 Aminet Aminocom.com Dune HD TV Dune HD set-top boxes Yes Yes TV Series dunehd.com CTU Systems Ltd CTU Systems Ltd Eludo Play Out System Yes Yes TV Series ctusystems.com nangu.TV Motorola set-top boxes Yes Yes 2.0 nangu.TV Roku Digital Video Player Roku set-top boxes Yes Yes Roku OS / SDK 2.6 Roku Telebreeze Player HTML, Android, iOS, Windows, MacOS, Roku, MAG Infomir, Samsung Tizen, LG WebOS, Google Chromecast, tvOS, Amazon Fire TV, AndroidTV Yes Yes Telebreeze bitdash (SDK) HTML5 or Flash, Web and Mobile Yes Yes Version 3.0+ bitmovin 3ivx (SDK) Windows 8, Windows Phone 8[31] & Xbox One[32] Yes Yes 2.0 3ivx THEOplayer (SDK)[33] HTML5 Yes Yes OpenTelly Viblast Player (SDK) HTML5, iOS, Android Yes Partial Viblast Ltd Flowplayer (SDK) Adobe Flash, iOS, Android, HTML5 (hlsjs plugin) Yes Yes The Flash HLS plugin is available from GitHub. Flowplayer Ltd JW Player (SDK) Adobe Flash, iOS, Android Yes Yes HLS is provided in all JW Player versions as of JW8 (latest) JW Player Radiant Media Player (SDK) Adobe Flash, HTML5 Yes Yes 1.5.0[34] Radiant Media Player Yospace (SDK) Adobe Flash Yes Yes 2.1 Yospace Onlinelib (SDK) Adobe Flash Yes Yes 2.0 Onlinelib.de VODOBOX HLS Player (online service) Adobe Flash, HTML5, iOS, Android Yes Yes Vodobox NexPlayer (SDK) iOS, Android, Windows Phone Yes Yes NexStreaming ffplay/avplay (multimedia framework) Yes Partial FFmpeg/Libav GPAC (multimedia framework) Yes No 0.5.0 Telecom ParisTech inc. QuickPlayer (SDK) Android, iOS, Windows 7, 8, 8,1 and 10 Yes Yes Squadeo hls.js (MSE) MSE Browsers Yes Unknown Daily Motion open source [22][23] hasplayer.js (MSE) MSE Browsers Yes Unknown open source [24] Hola Player (video player) HTML5, Adobe Flash, iOS, Android Yes Yes All versions Hola Ltd open source [35] Shaka Player (SDK) HTML5 (MSE Browsers) Coming soon Partial 2.1 Open Source[36][37] Servers
Product Technology As Of Version Editor Free Notes Keepixo Genova Live Bundled software for transcoding to H.264 & HEVC, and packaging to HLS, MPEG-DASH, MS Smooth Streaming Keepixo No bitcodin SaaS bitmovin No [38] VLC 1.2 Yes Once SaaS Brightcove No IIS Media Services 4.0[19] Microsoft No Antik Media Streamer Ingest Module (UDP/HTTP Transport Stream, Backup Stream with auto-switching, stream status monitoring and logging), Stream replication UDP/HTTP, HLS streaming, Video archive with snapshots, Server-side Timeshift, Timezone Shifting with multi-timezones, Stream Encryption using AES and key-rotation (with Antik Key Server) 3.0 Antik technology No Adobe Media Server Live and VOD streaming as origin and edge server 5.0 Adobe No Evostream Media Server Cross-platform including embedded systems such as encoders, IP cameras, DVRs, and more. Supports: Adobe Flash RTMP, RTMPS, LiveFLV, full transcoder for creating lower bitrate streams, HTTP Live Streaming (HLS) for streaming to iPhones, iPads and Androids, HTTP Dynamic Streaming (HDS) for Adobe Air, Microsoft Smooth Streaming (MSS) for Microsoft devices, RTSP with RTP or MPEG-TS, MPEG-TS (unicast/multicast), compatible Live Encoding, strong security for your content ( Verimatrix DRM, HLS AES encryption, Stream Aliasing, Watermarking), built-in clustering mechanism and more. 1.6.5 EvoStream No MythTV 0.25 MythTV Yes MACNETIX VOD-Server 3.0 MACNETIX No Anevia ViaMotion Servers Transcapsulation: from one input, several outputs
(HLS, MS Smooth Streaming, ADS Flash, MPEG DASH)Anevia No Packet Ship OverView:Origin Server Capture from IPTV multicast and chunking to HLS for multi-bandwidth live streams, with AES encryption 2.1 Packet Ship No nangu.TV Streamers on-the-fly adaptation: content is stored once enabling several outputs
(HLS, MS Smooth Streaming, ADS Flash, MPEG DASH)nangu.TV No TVersity Media Server 1.9 TVersity No Pro Edition only Helix Universal Server Live + VOD HLS with Verimatrix DRM integration, ABR, Multi-Resolution, AES encryption 15.0+ RealNetworks No High performance HLS (12,000+ concurrent devices) Wowza Streaming Engine Live and VOD streaming as origin and edge server with DVR, DRM Integration and Transcoding for adaptive delivery. Outputs to MPEG-DASH, HLS, HDS, Smooth Streaming, RTMP, and RTSP 2.0+ Wowza Media Systems No Unified Streaming Platform Muxes media content from one unified source to multiple outputs (Smooth Streaming, HDS, HLS and MPEG DASH) Unified Streaming No VODOBOX Live Server Outputs HTTP Live Streaming with Adaptive bitrate streaming (up to 6 simultaneous qualities).
Video codecs : AVC H.264 / HEVC H.265
Audio codecs : MP3 / AAC
Transport layers : HTTP / FTP / Amazon AWS S3 / Microsoft Azure Web Storage / writing to disk (NetBios / Samba)
Hostings : internal HTTP Web server and/or external Web servers (ex: Apache HTTP server, Microsoft IIS, Nginx, etc.)1.0 Vodobox Yes Supports input live streams from DVB-T devices, satellite receivers (Dreambox), IP streams (RTSP, RTMP, MMS, HTTP), Microsoft DirectShow drivers (video capture cards, live production software, camera). Encoder is compliant with Intel Quick Sync Video and Nvidia NVENC hardware acceleration. Flixwagon Platform Video Server Flixwagon No StreamCoder Live Encoder Realtime video encoder (inputs : DVB/IP stream or video signal). Supports multi-bitrates and multi-languages Ektacom No Apache HTTP Server Apache Software Foundation Yes Unreal Media Server 9.5 Unreal Streaming Technologies No Latency of live streams can be as low as 2.5 seconds over the Internet Nimble Streamer RTMP / RTSP / Icecast / MPEG-TS to ABR HLS. MP4 / MP3 to VOD HLS 1.0.0-x WMSPanel No Nginx-rtmp-module Free module for nginx server with support of HLS live streaming. Compliant with iOS and Android. 0.9.x Roman Arutyunyan Yes Nginx Plus VOD HLS as origin NGINX, Inc. No Flussonic Media Server Multi-platform support for HTTP, RTSP, RTMP, DASH, Time Shifting, DVR Functions with Unlimited Rewind Capabilities HLS streaming specific to iOS platform support. 3.0+ Flussonic, LLC. No Supporting a magnitude of features with full HTTP support. VBrick Distributed Media Engine (“DME”) 2.0 VBrick Systems, Inc. No Live and stored HLS. Live can be transmuxed from several input mux including RTP, RTMP, and MPEG-TS using H.264 encoding Telebreeze Coder / Media Server Input streams / interfaces: UDP, TCP, RTP, HLS, HTTP, RTMP (MPEG-TS)
Output Streams: HLS, HTTP, UDP
Preprocessing: Resize, Deinterlace, Frame Rate Conversion, Audio Resampling, Logo RenderingTelebreeze No LEADTOOLS Media Streaming Server SDK Converts files on the fly to Adobe HDS, Apple HLS, MPEG-DASH, Microsoft Smooth Streaming, RTSP. 19.0 LEAD Technologies No MC-ROUTE Multifunctional software for live stream routing and protocol conversion 4.4 Teracue No Supported protocols: TS over UDP, RTP, TCP, HLS, HTTP, RTSP/RTP Live Encoders
Product Technology As Of Version Editor Free Notes ENC-400 Series Live hardware encoder with SDI or HDMI 1.0 Teracue No Supported protocols: TS over UDP,RTP, TCP, RTP/RTSP, RTMP push, HLS WELLAV NB100 Live Streamcast with SDI or HDMI, CVBS 1.0 Wellav Technologies No Supported protocols: TS UDP,RTP, RTP/RTSP, RTMP, HLS; VOD encoders
Product Technology As Of Version Editor Free Notes VODOBOX HLS Encoder Converts video files into pre-encoded HLS Adaptive bitrate streaming, ready to be hosted and broadcast through Apache HTTP server / Microsoft IIS / Nginx Web servers. Supports AVC H.264 / HEVC H.265 / Alternate Audio / Alternate Subtitles. 1.0 Vodobox Yes Transcode classic video files (avi, mp4, m2ts, mkv, …) into HLS streams with multi-qualities for VOD or replay usage. Hardware encoding can be accelerated by Intel Quick Sync Video and Nvidia NVENC technologies. MediaGoom HLS Packager[39] Convert mp4 files encoded with multibitrate to HLS chunks. 0.1 Mediagoom Yes Support both Linux and Windows. See also
References
- ^ Pantos, R.P. (April 2016). “HTTP Live Streaming draft-pantos-http-live-streaming-19”. Network Working Group: 1.
- ^ Jordan, Larry (10 June 2013). “The Basics of HTTP Live Streaming”. Larry’s Blog. Larry Jordan & Associates. Retrieved 18 June 2013.
- ^ MPEG-DASH vs. Apple HLS vs. Smooth Streaming vs. Adobe HDS
- ^ Pantos, R. (30 September 2011). “HTTP Live Streaming”. Internet Engineering Task Force. Retrieved 18 June 2013.
- ^ “Application keys”. Digital rights management (DRM). upLynk Support. Retrieved 18 June 2013.
- ^ “History for draft-pantos-http-live-streaming”. Retrieved 2017-04-17.
Stream changed to ISE from None- ^ Pantos, R., Ed., and W. May. “HTTP Live Streaming”. Retrieved 2017-09-05.
- ^ Roger, Pantos,; William, May,. “HTTP Live Streaming”. tools.ietf.org. Retrieved 2017-01-23.
- ^ https://developer.apple.com/videos/play/wwdc2016/504/ What’s New in HTTP Live Streaming
- ^ http://www.streamingmedia.com/Articles/ReadArticle.aspx?ArticleID=111796 HLS Now Supports Fragmented MP4, Making it Compatible With DASH
- ^ https://bitmovin.com/hls-news-wwdc-2016/ WWDC16: HLS supports Fragmented MP4 – and gets MPEG-DASH compatible!
- ^ http://flussonic.com/
- ^ https://groups.google.com/forum/#!topic/flussonic/XYav4KX6StY
- ^ “Limelight Orchestrate Video Support”. Limelight Networks. Retrieved 14 November 2013.
- ^ “Qencode supported formats include HLS and MPEG-DASH”. Qencode, Inc.
- ^ “Android 3.0 Platform Highlights”.
- ^ “webOS 3.0.5 Updates”.
- ^ Simplified Adaptive Video Streaming: Announcing support for HLS and DASH in Windows 10
- ^ a b “First Look: Microsoft IIS Media Services 4”. StreamingMedia.com. Retrieved 30 July 2011.
- ^ Blogcritics, November 26, 2010. iPad App Review: SlingPlayer (Retrieved April 14, 2014)
- ^ Scott, Andrew (27 Feb 2015). “Audio Factory: an overview”. Internet Blog. BBC.
the only on-demand assets will be AAC HLS. … We are still talking to manufacturers and many are confident that they will be able to provide their users with access to all 57 of our HLS AAC streams at 320kb/s within a few weeks or months.- ^ a b [1]
- ^ a b hls.js demo page Archived 2015-11-20 at the Wayback Machine.
- ^ a b https://github.com/Orange-OpenSource/hasplayer.js/tree/master
- ^ Supported Media Formats | Android Developers
- ^ Release Notes Firefox 50.0 for Android Release
- ^ DASH playback of AV1 video in Firefox
- ^ Hints of ‘iTunes Live Stream’ Service Found in iTunes 10.1 – Mac Rumors
- ^ https://trac.videolan.org/vlc/ticket/2943 VLC Ticket #2943 (Support for HTTP Live Streaming as a client)
- ^ https://forum.videolan.org/viewtopic.php?t=113275
- ^ http://www.3ivx.com/technology/windows/metro/http_live_streaming.html
- ^ http://www.3ivx.com/xbox/
- ^ THEOplayer | HLS Support
- ^ Radiant Media Player version history
- ^ https://holacdn.com/player
- ^ Shaka Player GitHub Repo
- ^ Shaka Player Demo
- ^ StreamingMedia Review bitcodin
- ^ “MediaGoom. Essential Web Streaming”.