How to Build a Scalable Video Streaming App Architecture

In the past few years, there has been enormous growth in digital video processing and communication technology. With a proper plan (Read more in the guide to building a video streaming app), we can develop a high-quality streaming app over different platforms.

Video streaming demands a large amount of data to be processed and transferred with limited bandwidth of communication channels.

Data: Company filings

Note: HBO Max numbers include only the number of paid subscribers that have activated their HBO Max app subscriptions. Many more people pay for HBO via their cable subscriptions but have yet to activate the HBO Max app that comes with their cable subscription.

Fortunately, file compression technologies have overcome these limitations. Wired and wireless communication channels provide a platform for video streaming applications.

However, even with all these video streaming technology stack advancements, you can build a video streaming app, but still, there are some challenges in video streaming app architecture.

The most common issue faced by developers is making their apps scalable. Scalability is your app’s ability to handle a growing number of users. It also has to do with the capacity of your current or future developer to maintain the app.

If you ask whether your app can scale up to exponential growth, you are in the right place. To make your app scalable, you must be prepared to add new features. These features will make your code flexible and keep your app running smoothly.

Fig: Video streaming app architecture

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How Do Scalable Applications Work?

On the user’s device, whenever they click on a video, it loads for a few seconds and then starts playing. Let us have a look at how this process works in the backend. After the user makes a request, the app transcodes the video.

Transcoding converts a video file from one format to another. This ensures that the video is in a format that works best for a particular device. Transcoding videos enables users to view videos across different platforms and devices.

The most prominent streaming services send their video to their content operation team after they receive it from their video source. Before a user can view a video, it goes through rigorous processing.

The most common process includes the following three steps:

1. Validation

Transcoding attempts or data transmission problems can cause color changes or missing frames. Softwares analyze these videos for any digital errors. Detection of errors results in the video being rejected.

2. Parallel Encoding

Most video files are multiple terabyte-sized. It is inefficient to process such extensive data. Hence, the video is first broken down into many smaller fragments. These fragments are then encoded in parallel.

Many servers are needed to process all these parts at the same time. Once these parts are encoded, they are validated to ensure no new errors have arisen. Then, they are merged back into a single file and verified again.

3. Encoding Profile

Each device has a video format that looks best on that particular device. Video streaming app architecture services use the mass of files created during encoding to support every internet-connected device. All the different formats for a video are called its encoding profile.

This profile is optimized for different network speeds. The faster your network is, the higher the video quality you will see. Even audio and subtitles are encoded into varying levels of quality and various languages.

Fig: Video encoding architecture

Technology Stacks Used by Streaming Services

How to build a video streaming app? There are various strategies you can employ to build a video streaming app. These are some of the strategies used by the most successful streaming service, Netflix:

1. CDN (Content Distribution Network)

A content distribution network aims to put content as close as possible to the users. When the user requests a video, the app will find the nearest server with the video. The app then streams the video from there to the device.

The most significant benefits of CDN are speed and reliability. Moving the video source as close as possible to the people watching it will make the viewing experience much faster and more reliable.

Along with optimizing page content and libraries, CDN also ensures that the application has a faster load time. It loads content from the nearest location of the user. The use of AWS Cloudfront can make a significant difference in terms of loading speed along with supporting caching strategy.

2. Third-Party CDNs

Some streaming services even start their CDNs, but this can only be done if their video catalog is small enough. If the videos are fewer, one location can store all the content. As companies grow, building their CDNs makes even less sense.

Third-party CDNs allow them to have a global reach instantly using existing services. Outsourcing their distribution networks gives services more time to work on higher-priority projects. They can utilize this time to create algorithms to adapt to changing network conditions.

3. Open Connect

In 2012, Netflix launched its dedicated CDN solution to maximize network efficiency. Its own purpose-built CDN has proven to be very advantageous for Netflix. Open Connect is less expensive compared to other third-party distribution networks. It allowed them to control the entire video path.

They now have control over transcoding, CDN, and clients. It has also made the app more scalable. Higher scalability aligns with Netflix’s goal of offering its service worldwide. Their CDN allows them to know who their users are. They even have a computer system for video storage called OCA (Open Connect Appliances).

This helps Netflix make various optimization choices other services cannot make. Their high-performance CDN has allowed them to deliver a superior video viewing experience.

Fig: Technology stack used in streaming services like Netflix

What is HLS Streaming?

HLS stands for HTTP Live Streaming. It is a video streaming protocol for delivering audiovisual media to viewers over the internet. This live-streaming protocol was first launched by Apple when they launched the first iPhone. It is used to implement an adaptive bitrate streaming format.

The most crucial feature that HLS offers is that it can adapt the bitrate of the video to the actual speed of the connection. HLS streaming videos are delivered from a container format such as mp4. Container formats contain an encoded video and audio track in a single file. This file is then streamed using the streaming protocol.

HTTP Live Streaming is encoded in different resolutions and bitrates. As the connection gets slower, the protocol adjusts the requested bitrate to the available bandwidth. Therefore, it can work on different bandwidths, such as 3G or 4G. Hence, it provides the best UX based on the user’s bandwidth.

AWS for Video Streaming

AWS architecture can be implemented by using a variety of protocols that are layered on top of HTTP. We can build on-demand video streaming solutions with AWS to deliver video content of greater quality to the end users.

Coursera relies on it to provide fast and reliable service to users every day. To allow users to watch videos on-demand, it uses Amazon S3 for storage. It uses Amazon Elastic Transcoder for video processing and Amazon CloudFront for delivery.

Amazon S3 is an infinitely scalable storage facility for your videos. It has built-in redundancy and allows users to pay only for what they use. The Elastic Transcoder takes videos from one S3 bucket and transcodes them as per the users’ request.

Then, it stores it in a second S3 bucket. Amazon CloudFront caches videos at the edges. Therefore, users experience uninterrupted video playback with minimal delays due to buffering. AWS offers global, scalable delivery at a very affordable price point.

Complete Architecture of a Video Streaming Platform

Fig: Complete architecture of a video streaming platform

The above representation shows the complete architecture of a media streaming platform using various AWS services.

Benefits of a Scalable App

Scalability is not something that you can incorporate into an app after development. The development process needs to start with scalability as a priority.

Assume that your app will gain rapid success after hitting the market. Hence, scalability is the key factor contributing to your app’s growth potential.

The following are the benefits of scalability:

1. Maintaining User Experience

If your marketing is successful, you should expect massive traffic. If your app is scalable, you can accommodate new customers with zero downtime and without sacrificing user experience.

2. Flexible Projects

Sometimes, the code is so complicated that only the original developer can maintain it. With scalable apps, you have the flexibility to hand them off to other developers.

3. More Potential Growth

Scalability testing allows developers to identify bugs and glitches before users do. This results in positive reviews and more potential for growth.

Important Things to Consider When Creating a Video Streaming App

Creating your own video streaming service requires you to consider a few points:

• Discover and Realize Your Niche

With the availability of various types of content ranging from entertainment to education to fitness, creating a differentiator with a specific niche is essential. You can build a platform for documentaries or indie videos.

• Monetizing The App

Innovation and growth can be achieved by disrupting typical monetization models. Plans should always be audience-oriented. As the incumbents have already taken the market space, you can try monetizing with free subscriptions with advertisements or product placement.

You also need to look into the multi-currency requirements if you want to build a streaming service platform to run worldwide.

• Improve Experience

You should optimize the app’s performance for border cases like low internet speed or for people with limited access.

• Netflix is Not Just Video Streaming

Netflix’s success is not just streaming videos but also the user engineering and recommendations that hook the user to the app. When planning to build streaming service like netflix, focus on data analytics and user personalization aspects.

• Managing Different Roles in The App

User view is just one user role in the Netflix app. One needs to plan for different users and their access, such as admin, video owner, partners, moderators, etc.

Total Cost of Netflix Like Video Streaming App Development

The cost of developing a Netflix-like app ranges from $150000 to $350000. This cost includes the iOS application development, the Android application, and back-end and front-end development.

Creating efficient streams and constructing scalable architecture requires substantial effort. The implementation of DevOps services is essential to optimize the utilization of storage and retrieval services.