Low-Latency Server-Side Standards-Compliant HTTP Adaptive Streaming
Video is frequently delivered over the internet using HTTP (Hypertext Transfer Protocol) adaptive streaming, in which clients make HTTP requests for short video segments, with an adaptive bitrate (ABR) algorithm selecting the quality to request for each segment. But this approach has limitations for live content, with end-to-end latency often 30–60 sec. We describe the containerized test system we have developed to evaluate the performance of an alternative architecture in which encoding and packaging, and client applications remain unchanged, but where QUIC (Quick UDP Internet Connections) is used instead of TCP (Transmission Control Protocol). The server runs an ABR algorithm tightly coupled to QUIC, using delivery parameters from QUIC to make ABR decisions, and instructing QUIC of the rate at which to deliver data. We present results showing that this approach is promising, enabling content to be delivered via adaptive bitrate streaming with consistent low latency while remaining fair to competing traffic.
- Print ISSN
- 1545-0279
- Electronic ISSN
- 2160-2492
- Published
- 2026-09
- Content type
- Original Research
- Keywords
- streaming, abr, latency, quic, http3
- DOI
- 10.5594/JMI.2026/KJYI8219