Apple's HTTP Live Streaming system avoids the need for specialized streaming servers by using standard HTTP to deliver video streams. It has four main components: a server that encodes and segments the video into small clips; a segmenter that stores the clips as separate files and creates an index file; a regular HTTP server that distributes the files; and a client that retrieves the files and continuously refreshes the index to receive a live, moving window of video segments or access all segments for video on demand. The system supports delivering multiple bitrate streams to different devices by providing multiple index files that clients can select from.

1. Apple’s HTTP Live Streaming

4. System Overview