What Is HLS Streaming and When Should You Use It [2023 Update]
HLS video content has become ubiquitous, video streaming formats have adapted. Adobe Flash Player was once the standard, but now HLS videos are the norm. HLS stands for HTTP Live Streaming. It is now the most popular video format for delivering video and audio data over the internet. Combined with HTML5 video players, video streams using HLS provide the best quality stream yet.
This is good news for both broadcasters and viewers. Firstly, because HTML5 and HLS are open specifications, anyone e can modify and access them. Secondly, they’re safer, more reliable and much faster than earlier technologies. Furthermore, HTML5 and HLS live-streaming technologies provide distinct advantages for content producers today. If you’re a broadcaster, business or content producer, you need to get up-to-speed on these changes. Whether you’re live broadcasting, event streaming or want to stream live video content from your website, ensuring proper viewing across all streaming platforms in the best quality is vital.
In this article, we’ll cover the role of HTML5 video streaming with HLS. Specifically, we’ll detail the different streaming protocols. By the end, you’ll understand the importance and benefits of HLS streaming and how it can help you stream your best content yet.
What Is HLS Streaming, and How Does it Work?
HLS is a live streaming protocol that is considered the video delivery “technology of now.”
HLS stands for HTTP Live Streaming. In short, HLS is a media streaming protocol for delivering visual and audio media to viewers over the internet. Apple launched the HTTP live streaming (HLS) protocol in the summer of 2009. Apple created the protocol to coincide with the release of the iPhone 3 due to issues with accessing streaming content.
The original iPhone and the iPhone 2 had issues accessing video content due to switching between Wi-Fi and mobile networks while people were watching video content. Before Apple released HLS, most early smartphones used Quicktime Streaming Server as their media streaming standard. Quicktime was an important tool; however, it used non-standard ports for data transfer, which resulted in firewalls blocking the Real Time Streaming Protocol (RTSP) used for the Quicktime streaming server.
These limitations, combined with slow internet speeds in smartphones’ early days, resulted in the end of the Quicktime Streaming Server.
protocols learned from the drawbacks of Quicktime Streaming Services, and the protocol was made so that it wouldn’t get blocked by a firewall. Due to this and many other features, HTTP Live Streaming has become one of the most used streaming protocols.
Advantages of HLS Video Streaming Over Other Protocols
The HLS video streaming protocol has a wide range of advantages that make it attractive to broadcasters.
In the first half of this article, we covered a major advantage of HLS over other protocols in terms of streaming video quality. In particular, broadcasters can deliver streams using the adaptive bitrate process supported by HLS. That way, each viewer can receive the best quality stream for their internet connection at any moment.
This protocol includes several other key benefits such as:
- Embedded closed captions
- Synchronized playback of multiple streams
- Good advertising standards support
- DRM support
- Support for multiple browsers and operating systems
- Smartphones automatically select the data rate for playing media
- Better security
- No complexity at the users’ end
- Support on most network infrastructure
The takeaway here for broadcasters? For now and at least in the shorter-term future, HLS is the definitive default standard for live streaming content.
When to Use HLS Streaming?
Currently, we recommend that broadcasters always adopt the HLS streaming protocol. It’s the most up-to-date and widely used protocol for media streaming. For example, 45% of broadcasters reported using HLS streaming in this Video Streaming Latency Report. RTMP came in second, with 33% of broadcasters using that alternative. And MPEG-DASH trailed behind even further, used by only 7% of broadcasters.
1. Streaming to Mobile Devices
Developed by Apple, HLS mobile streaming supports all portable devices, including iPhone, iPad, and other streaming media players.
When it comes to streaming to mobile devices and tablets, you need to use HLS. As of May 2023, 58.26% of all web traffic comes through mobile phones. Mobile devices now make up most of the internet traffic, so any streaming solution you use needs to work with mobile devices. HLS is essential for mobile streaming.
2. Streaming With an HTML5 Video Player
The native HTML5 video player is the standard player used to play video content on websites, apps, and mobile devices. However, HTML5 video players don’t support RTMP or HDS. You need to use HLS with an HTML5 video player. HLS allows for content delivery to your video player. Along with reaching mobile devices, these considerations point towards HLS as the default standard. If you’re stuck using Flash technology for the moment, RTMP will be a better delivery method—but only if you have no other option.
One Drawback of HLS Streaming
HLS streaming does have one disadvantage, which we mentioned above. Namely, it has a relatively higher latency than some other protocols. That means that HLS streams are not quite as “live” as the term live streaming suggests. Generally, with HLS, viewers can experience delays of up to 30 seconds (or more, in some cases). That means that if you’re streaming a video, it’ll take 30 seconds to reach the viewer, so they see the content as close to live as possible.
That can be an issue if you are streaming something like a sporting event, where people may be commenting on the event, and you don’t want a large delay between what is happening and when your viewers see the content.
However, this delay is manageable with many live streams, such as a conference or a graduation ceremony. That said, this isn’t a problem for most broadcasters. Most live streams can handle that delay without causing user dissatisfaction. One protocol that works well to reduce latency with HLS video streaming is Low-Latency CMAF for DASH. This protocol works with the content delivery network and HTML5 video player to carry the weight where HLS streaming is lacking.
If you’re streaming something such as live sports, you should use this; if you don’t want a long delay, you should use this. Using tools such as CMAF allows you to overcome one of the few drawbacks of using HLS video streaming.
Another (minor) drawback worth noting is that HLS streaming requires at least three segments to remain in the queue before it allows video playback.
HTML5 Video Streaming With HLS
HTML5 video players are essentially the universal, all-device video player.
The HLS protocol has become the go-to approach for streaming content with HTML5 video players. If you’re not familiar with HTML5 video streaming, it’s one of the three main approaches to video streaming today. With HTML5, the content-hosting website uses native HTTP to stream the media directly to viewers. Content tags (e.g., <video> tag) are included as part of the HTML code. As a result, the <video> tag creates a native HTML5 video player within your browser.
These tags provide direction to the HTTP protocol (HLS) and what to do with this content. HTTP displays the text, and an audio player plays audio content.
Like HLS, HTML5 is customizable for broadcasters and free for viewers. To learn more, you can check out our related post on optimizing HTML5 video players with HLS. We’ve also written extensively about the transition from Flash-based video (usually delivered via RTMP) to HTML5 video (usually delivered using HLS). Check out our “Flash is Dead” RTMP-focused blog post for more on that subject, including why it’s important to use an HTML5 video player.
If you’re streaming over the Mslive, you’re already using a fully compatible HTML5 video player. Content delivered via Mslive defaults to HTML5 delivery.
However, it’ll use Flash as a backup method if HTML5 is not supported on a given device or browser. That means that even older devices with Flash will have no problem playing your content over your Mslive account. Of course, some broadcasters may prefer to use a custom video player. Luckily, it’s quite simple to embed your HLS stream within any video player.
For example, if you’re using JW Player, insert the M3U8 reference URL into the code for your video player. Here’s a visual example: var playerInstance = jwplayer(“myElement”); playerInstance.setup({ file: “/assets/myVideoStream.m3u8”, image: “/assets/myPoster.jpg” });
Another note about using HLS and an HTML5 video player with Mslive is that Mslive uses the THEOplayer. THEOplayer is a universal video player that can be embedded in websites, mobile apps, and any platform you can think of. As mentioned before, compatibility is critical when choosing video players and protocols since you want to reach the most people possible.
The Future of Live Streaming
Live streaming seems to grow faster by the minute. We can’t wait for future technical improvements in video delivery, security, privacy, and more.
Before wrapping things up, let’s recap our discussion of some of the advantages of the HLS streaming protocol. First, there’s no particular infrastructure required to deliver HLS content. Any standard web server or CDN will function well.
Additionally, firewalls are much less likely to block content using HLS. In terms of technical functionality, HLS will play video encoded with the H.264 or HEVC/H.265 codecs. It then chops the video into 10-second segments. Remember, latency for delivery tends to be in the 30-second range. However, Mslive now has a low-latency HLS live streaming solution that reduces latency to 10 seconds or less. The HLS protocol also includes several other built-in features. For example, HLS is an adaptive bitrate streaming protocol. That means the client device and server dynamically detect the user’s internet speed and then adjust video quality in response.
Other beneficial HLS features include support for embedded closed captions, synchronized playback of multiple streams, advertising standards (i.e., VPAID and VAST), DRM, and more.
While HLS is the current gold standard for live streaming, it won’t stay that way indefinitely. We expect MPEG-DASH to become increasingly popular in the coming years. As that shift takes place, we’ll see other changes, such as the transition away from h.264 encoding to h.265/HEVC. This new compression standard provides much smaller file sizes, making 4K live-streaming a real possibility. However, that time isn’t here yet.
For now, it’s vital to stick with the established standards to reach as many users as possible on their devices. In other words, HLS is the streaming protocol of the present.
Conclusion
HLS video is the current standard for any high-quality video content delivery network. It’s widely supported and provides high-definition video with minimal buffering. Furthermore, it can run on almost any server and can be viewed on most devices. For businesses, broadcasters and content creators today, it’s a dream.
You should now have a better understanding of how HLS streaming work, its benefits and when to use it. We’ve also outlined the future of HLS streaming technology, the technicalities and its future. Ultimately, it’s a huge leap forward in video. And with a vast array of live-streaming tools available, such as Mslive’s live-streaming platform, taking advantage of HLS has never been easier.
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