Wowza maps the ingest-to-playback split in streaming protocols
Wowza published an explainer on contribution and delivery protocols in video streaming workflows. The article distinguishes ingest protocols such as RTMP, SRT, RTSP, RTP, and MPEG-TS from delivery protocols such as HLS, DASH, low-latency HLS, low-latency DASH, and WebRTC, and describes how media servers convert between them in a typical live streaming workflow.
Key Takeaways
- RTMP, SRT, RTSP, RTP, and MPEG-TS are framed as contribution protocols for source-to-server ingest.
- HLS, DASH, Low-Latency HLS, Low-Latency DASH, and WebRTC are framed as delivery protocols for server-to-viewer playback.
- Wowza says Wowza Streaming Engine supports major ingest protocols and can package streams into major delivery formats automatically.
- The workflow described has three stages: ingest, processing, and distribution, with the media server handling transmuxing and optional transcoding.
- The article notes edge cases: SRT can be used for point-to-point delivery, HLS can be accepted as a contribution format by some platforms, and WebRTC can work on both sides of the pipeline.
Why It Matters
The immediate takeaway is operational: live streaming workflows are usually built around two different protocol jobs, not one interchangeable stack. Ingest protocols are optimized for source-to-server reliability and latency, while delivery protocols are built for scale, adaptive bitrate, and browser or mobile playback. That split matters for platform design because the media server becomes the conversion point between the two. The article also shows where the boundaries blur, especially with SRT and WebRTC, but says the standard contribution-to-delivery pipeline is the most predictable model. Watch which protocols appear at ingest versus playback in your own workflow audits.
Read full article at wowza.com
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