Why low latency matters in streaming and what it takes to get it right
In today’s streaming world, immediacy is everything. Whether it’s a live football match, breaking news, or an interactive quiz show, viewers expect content to be delivered in near real-time. Any delay, known as latency, can erode that experience, turning excitement into frustration.
But what exactly causes latency in streaming? Why does it matter so much? And what can be done to reduce it?
Why latency is more than a technical issue
Latency is the delay between when a live event happens and when a viewer sees it on their screen. In some contexts, like video on demand, a few seconds of delay might go unnoticed. But in live events, especially sports or interactive format, those seconds count.
Think of:
- – Watching a football match and hearing your neighbor or the café next door cheer a goal before you see it — a frustrating reminder your stream is behind.
- – Spoilers on social media ruining plot twists in shows or series before they appear on your screen.
- – Live auctions or game shows, where delayed input makes fair participation impossible.
- – Betting or trading, where speed of information equals opportunity.
In short, high latency disconnects people from the moment.
What causes latency?
Streaming a live event isn’t as simple as hitting “record” and “play.” Between the source and the screen, a lot happens:
- – The video is encoded and transcoded into multiple formats.
- – It’s often buffered to avoid interruptions.
- – It travels across content delivery networks (CDNs), sometimes through multiple routes.
- – It’s packaged and played back using protocols that weren’t originally built for real-time interaction.
Every step introduces delay. The challenge lies in reducing that delay without compromising stability or video quality and doing so on a scale.
Closing the gap, with a new generation of streaming architecture
In recent years, the streaming industry has made significant progress. Protocols like CMAF (Common Media Application Format) and chunked transfer encoding have allowed segments of video to be delivered faster and more efficiently. CDN strategies have become more dynamic. And infrastructure has evolved to be smarter about how and where content is served.
At AgileTV, these developments shape the way we design our entire delivery architecture. We focus on enabling operators to stream live content with latency that feels natural — typically around 3 to 6 seconds — without needing to resort to complex or unscalable setups like WebRTC.
Our media server and origin solution is built from the ground up with low latency in mind. It supports CMAF-CTE (Chunked Transfer Encoding), enabling video chunks to be sent to the viewer before a full segment is even completed. This shortens the delay between action and playback, especially when paired with compatible players tuned to stick close to the live edge. The result? Viewers get that “right there with you” feeling, even if they’re watching on the phone, not inside the stadium.
We also keep things flexible: our origin platform serves the same channel regardless of device capabilities. Whether a player supports low latency or not, they can all tap into the same stream, reducing overhead for operators and simplifying management.
And with real-time repackaging and built-in support for time-shift, catch-up, and live-to-VOD, we ensure that adding low latency doesn’t mean sacrificing the features viewers expect. Even DRM doesn’t get in the way: streams are encrypted on the fly and tailored to the device’s capabilities at the moment they’re requested.
Meanwhile, our CDN Director helps optimize the last mile, dynamically routing traffic across multiple CDNs to minimize delays and avoid bottlenecks, especially during peak demand.
The key here isn’t a single magic bullet — it’s an ecosystem that considers latency at every stage, from ingest to playback. One that’s built to scale without giving up quality, resilience, or flexibility.
👉 Low Latency, Zero Compromise
Discover how AgileTV delivers ultra-low latency live video without complex workarounds or trade-offs in quality.
Real use cases where latency matters
Low latency is especially critical in a few key areas:
- – Live sports, where fans want to feel the moment as it happens, not after Twitter or radio ruins it.
- – Interactive broadcasts, like live voting, betting or auctions.
- – News coverage, where being a few seconds late means being behind the competition.
- – Multi-device environments, where someone watching on mobile might otherwise be seconds behind the same stream on a smart TV.
These aren’t niche edge cases and they’re increasingly the norm.
Looking ahead
Reducing latency is an ongoing effort. It involves the entire chain: encoding, packaging, delivery, playback, and real-time orchestration. It’s also about smart decision-making: choosing the right protocols, optimizing CDN use, and balancing performance with scale.
As demand for live and interactive content grows, the need for low-latency solutions will only increase. And while it’s a complex challenge, it’s also an opportunity to create richer, more immediate, and more immersive streaming experiences.
Sources:
- Dolby.io, Medialooks, API.Video, AgileTV
