How does latency affect streaming? What is Low Latency Streaming?

Low latency streaming

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To understand latency, let us explore two different case scenarios. 

Case 1:

Imagine interviewing an important celebrity or a business icon. If you raise a question, you will expect your question to be answered within a few seconds. But what if the question takes time to reach the other person? After it has reached, you will expect the reply spontaneously but due to the network latency, your communication will undergo a lapse. This lapse of time will generate chaos. 

Case 2:

Imagine another situation. You are streaming an important occasion which is to be watched by a number of people at the same time. Your viewers who are eager to watch the live stream will unmistakably be eager to watch the events as it is being broadcasted and without any delay. This delay or time-lapse is measured in terms of latency. The time taken for the information to go forth and back again is the latency of any typical network.

How does latency affect streaming?

When the time taken for a video to reach its audience and to be received back at the other end is more, it will have a negative impact on the quality of the overall streaming output. If you are a genuine cricket lover who loves to watch the match as the game is played on a ground thousands of kilometres away, you will regret it when the final results are streamed minutes after the event actually happens. You will never want to miss any event if it interests you. Similarly, your viewers watch your live stream expecting a glass-to-glass experience.

Low latency streaming

A latency that is very high increases displeasure among your audience. A study says that the majority of video streams still lag behind cable broadcasts in terms of delivery speed which is sad. On the other hand, streaming solution providers like Livebox provide a pitch-clear glass-to-glass experience with undeniably reduced latency which is sweet news to streamers who love to keep their audience cheering.

What is Low latency streaming?

Low latency streaming is when your viewers are able to watch the live streaming within five seconds. Yes! The live video reaches your viewers within five seconds or less and if it is in the case of conferencing, the latency is near real-time, thanks to the development in technology. 

Quality can be 4k or HD, but when the video reaches your audience a bit later, it might eventually create problems. Balancing quality with latency is highly significant. Be it screen-to-screen experiences, Interactive streaming, Remote operations with the video stream, Online Video gaming or Video chatting, keeping the latency low is undeniably crucial. 

Among the numerous streaming service providers, only a handful of low latency streaming service providers have clear, transparent testing software to test the speed and the capacity of the servers. Livebox uses a revolutionary technology that enables you to test drive the capability of the server you are going to use. Sign up for a free demo and get to know Livebox better!

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