HLS
Technology & Computing abbreviation · Internet & Web
| Stands for | HTTP Live Streaming |
|---|---|
| Categories | Technology & Computing |
HLS stands for HTTP Live Streaming, an Internet & web abbreviation.
Apple's adaptive streaming protocol that splits video into short segments listed in .m3u8 playlists at several quality levels, so players switch bitrate as network conditions change. It is the most widely supported format for live and on-demand video on the web and mobile devices.
Example: The live stream is packaged as HLS with 1080p, 720p and 480p renditions.
Usage notes
Introduced by Apple in 2009 with iPhone OS 3 and published as RFC 8216 in 2017. Because segments are plain HTTP files, HLS works through ordinary CDNs and firewalls. Standard HLS adds several seconds of delay, which Low-Latency HLS reduces. The main competing standard is MPEG-DASH, and browsers other than Safari usually play HLS through JavaScript libraries.
Related abbreviations
More Internet & web abbreviations
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- ES6 – ECMAScript 6
- FCP – First Contentful Paint
- FID – First Input Delay
- FOUC – Flash of unstyled content
- gTLD – Generic top-level domain
- HTML – HyperText Markup Language
- HTML5 – HyperText Markup Language 5
- IDN – Internationalized domain name
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