Live streaming on a CDN: latency, shield and load tests

Deliver live HLS or DASH with Cloud CDN at 0.5-4 s latency, Origin Shield in front of the encoder, and a rehearsal before the event.

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A live audience is a miss storm with a clock. If every viewer opens the encoder, the show is the outage. Cache live segments at the edge with short TTLs, shield the packager, and rehearse.

Latency budget

Cloud CDN is built for 0.5-4 second live latency and 4K-ready playback. Your encoder, playlist cadence and player buffer still own the rest of the budget.

Short TTLs, shielded misses

Playlists must refresh. Segments can cache briefly. Origin Shield exists so those refreshes do not multiply by PoP count onto the encoder.

Rehearse on a test hostname

Prove playback, origin health and a takedown (stop publish, purge stale playlists) before the event. Launch day is a poor first rehearsal.

After the event, it is VOD

The same distribution can deliver the recording. Raise TTLs, keep tokens if the library is premium.

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Frequently Asked Questions

Do you provide an encoder?

No. Use your existing live encoder or packager. Cloud CDN delivers the output globally.

Can this handle large concurrent audiences?

The network is designed to absorb live events with large concurrent audiences. Plan specialised events with Aptranet.

How do I take a stream down?

Stop the origin publish and purge the live path if stale playlists must disappear immediately.