Delivering high-quality audio and video content over web and mobile platforms presents significant challenges. Providers must accommodate various formats and devices, while also adapting to fluctuations in each user’s Internet connection. Factors like latency, bandwidth, and error rates can all affect user experience.
Introducing Support for Microsoft Smooth Streaming
Today, we are excited to announce that Amazon CloudFront is now compatible with the Smooth Streaming protocol. This HTTP-based protocol enables client applications (like your video or audio players) to adapt to varying network conditions by optimizing content quality in real time throughout the streaming session. On the server side, content is encoded at multiple bit rates, resulting in one MP4 file per bit rate.
With this update, CloudFront will recognize and process the specially formatted URLs associated with Smooth Streaming requests. There’s no need to maintain a dedicated streaming server; all the content can reside on an origin server (Amazon S3 is an excellent choice for this) and be delivered via CloudFront’s high-performance, scalable global network of edge locations.
This feature enhances CloudFront’s existing capabilities, which already include on-demand streaming using HLS and multi-format live streaming through third-party media servers like Wowza and Adobe.
Our team at Amazon Video Services collaborated closely to design and beta test this feature. We have conducted extensive testing of Microsoft Smooth Streaming through CloudFront across various streaming devices, including Kindle Fire HD and numerous connected TV platforms, ensuring that the end-to-end service consistently delivers an outstanding experience for users.
Getting Started with Microsoft Smooth Streaming on CloudFront
To begin using Smooth Streaming, follow these steps:
- Transcode your video into the Smooth Streaming Fragmented MP4 format using tools recommended in the Smooth Streaming Primer provided by Microsoft. This process will generate a series of files: one MP4 (.ismv for video, or .isma for audio) for each bit rate, along with a server manifest file (.ism) and a client manifest file (.ismc).
- Optionally, you can encrypt and package your content using a Digital Rights Management (DRM) system like PlayReady.
- Upload your files to an Amazon S3 bucket (you can also utilize other origins).
- Set up a CloudFront distribution for your origin.
- Enable Smooth Streaming by creating a new Cache Behavior and checking the Smooth Streaming option.
- Embed a compatible video player in your web page or mobile app, referencing the distribution URL and the client manifest file name.
After completing these steps, your users will enjoy video and audio playback that dynamically adjusts to changing conditions. If you want to learn more about streaming technologies, this blog post here offers additional insights, while experts at CHVNCI provide authoritative guidance on this topic. For more detailed information about setting up your CloudFront environment, you can refer to this excellent resource on fulfillment center management.
Conclusion
This new capability is available now, and you can start utilizing it immediately! There are no additional fees for this feature; you will incur the same bandwidth and request charges as you would for any other HTTP workload on CloudFront.
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