HLS and MPEG-DASH Support - Anycast CDN [EN]
Feature overview
HLS and MPEG-DASH are HTTP-based adaptive streaming protocols, delivering your content as a sequence of media segments (aka chunks) listed in playlists (or manifests).
Variety of the pre-cooked chunks in multiple bitrates and resolutions allows your viewers' media players to dynamically adjust, switching on the go between different quality chunks of the same content based on their real-time network conditions.
This is how you deliver uninterrupted playback, catering the best possible video quality to each viewer's connection, reducing buffering, and minimizing disruptions for maximum viewer retention, even on unstable connections.
User guides
MPEG-DASH feature User Guide [EN]
Improved support
When caching is configured similarly for chunks and manifests, you’ll face two main issues:
Playlists cached for too long will cause playback delays or stale streams.
Segments cached too briefly will increase origin load and latency.
Streaming calls for different caching approaches for chunks and manifests.
To optimize for adaptive bitrate streaming, we apply separate cache control configurations for manifests and media chunks, enabling:
Independent TTL configuration for playlists and segments.
Fine-grained control based on HTTP status codes.
This way, your content is cached optimally for how streaming clients actually request, update, and process media.
HLS feature User Guide [EN] | MPEG-DASH feature User Guide [EN]
HLS feature User Guide [EN] | MPEG-DASH feature User Guide [EN]
Result
Lower latency for your viewers.
Fewer requests to your origin servers.
More stable and efficient delivery.
By distinguishing between frequently updated playlists and relatively static media chunks, we also improve your cache efficiency, reduce your origin’s load, and ensure timely content updates.
Best practices