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Video: What Is the Goal of CMAF?

Learn more about CMAF at Streaming Media's next event.

Watch the complete video of this presentation from the Video Engineering Summit at Streaming Media West, VES201. Using CMAF to Cut Costs, Simplify Workflows, & Reduce Latency, in the Streaming Media Conference Video Portal.

Read the complete transcript of this clip:

Iraj Sodagar: So, what's the goal of CMAF? You guys have seen this issue of multiple formats. HLS, DASH, Smooth, HDS to some extent. You need to deliver all these formats to the CDNs. Those multiple copies exist in CDNs. And each device supporting one of these formats, getting the content from a CDN.

Now, if we can eliminate HLS as it is, eliminate Smooth, eliminate HDS, and even eliminate all these copies that we have, and come up, also, with a format that is common. "Common" meaning that the media segments are encoded once with the same format, but the manifest could be different in the case of DASH and HLS, MPD, M3UA.

If we can achieve that, then storage and packaging costs would be reduced. One single copy is gonna exist in the CDN, which means more efficient caching, definitely reducing the cost of the deployment. And, of course, one single copy of the content with two manifest files in different devices.

If the device supports one of the manifest files, it can download one. It doesn't need to download both. Manifests are usually very light in comparison to the media segments. In terms of efficiency, that's not really a major issue. But usually the devices downloads one the manifests, not two.

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