Video streaming technology

The pipes behind the stream, which carry the video from the studio to the screen

Press play on a video, and it starts within a second or two. If your network slows down, the picture turns blurry for a moment, then sharp again, but it does not stop. Between the studio and your screen sits a chain of specialised software. Most viewers never hear of the companies that make it.

The chain behind a stream

Encoding. Raw video is enormous. An encoder compresses it, so that it can travel over the internet. It also makes several copies at different qualities. The player on your phone switches between them as your network speeds up or slows down. This is called adaptive streaming, and it is why the picture turns blurry instead of stopping.

Playout. A TV channel is a schedule of programmes and ads, played out around the clock. Playout software runs that schedule, now often in the cloud. Many free channels on smart TVs are run this way.

Delivery. Copies of the video are kept on servers close to viewers, so that each viewer gets it from somewhere nearby. This is called a content delivery network.

Ad insertion. Ads are stitched into the stream on the server, so that each viewer can see different ads, chosen for them.

Protection. Video is encrypted, so that only paying viewers' devices can play it. An invisible mark, called a forensic watermark, can be hidden in each copy. If a copy is pirated, the mark shows whose copy leaked.

Quality analytics. Software measures every stream as it is watched, and shows the service where viewers wait too long or the picture freezes.

The chain behind a stream runs from encoding through playout, delivery and ad insertion to protection, with quality analytics measuring every stream as it is watched.

Who buys, and how. The buyers are streaming services, TV broadcasters, pay-TV operators and cinema chains. Most of them buy these parts rather than build them. Some buy a white-label platform: a complete, ready-made streaming service that they put their own name on. Teachers and coaching companies buy these too, to stream their classes.

Cinema. Cinemas no longer show films from reels of film. Each film arrives as a digital file, and a server in the cinema plays it.

India has built some of the leading companies in this field.

Every company named here has posted software engineering jobs in India. Famous companies that don't actively hire software engineers in India are left out.

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Platforms, encoding, playout and protection

Platforms, encoding, playout and protection

Complete streaming platforms

Mogi I/O

with engineers in Pune, Chennai and Mumbai, sells a white-label streaming platform, with its own compression, delivery and protection against piracy. A broadcaster or a teacher can put its own name on it. Mogi I/O has the most job postings in this Market Segment, a large number for a company of its size.

Mobiotics

with engineers in Bengaluru, sells a white-label platform for streaming and for learning by video.

Running channels from the cloud

Amagi

founded in Bengaluru, with engineers there, runs TV channels from the cloud for broadcasters around the world. These include many of the free channels on smart TVs. Amagi also inserts ads into each viewer's stream.

Encoding and the player

Harmonic

with engineers in Bengaluru, sells the encoders and cloud video processing behind many streaming services and pay-TV networks. (More on its cable broadband equipment in Market Segment 1.1, Telecom equipment and operators, in Industry Vertical 1, Networking and telecom.)

Bitmovin

with engineers in Chennai, sells a video player and cloud encoding, on which developers build streaming apps.

In adaptive streaming the encoder makes several copies of the same video at different qualities, and the player switches between them as the network speeds up or slows down.

Measuring quality

Conviva

with engineers in Bengaluru, measures the quality of every stream as viewers watch it, and tells the service where it is failing.

Stopping piracy

NAGRA

part of the Kudelski group, with engineers in Bengaluru, and Synamedia sell encryption, access control and forensic watermarks. These protect pay TV and streams from piracy.

Cinema

Qube Cinema

founded in Chennai, with engineers in Chennai and Bengaluru, makes digital cinema servers, and the network that delivers films to them. It replaced film prints in many Indian cinemas.

Streamhub, in Bengaluru, is another company in this area.

Two companies covered mainly in another Market Segment build their own streaming platforms:

Crunchyroll and DAZN

both with engineers in Hyderabad. (More on both in Market Segment 32.1, OTT and live streaming platforms.)

The stream that knows what is in it.

The systems that carried video once had no idea what was in it. AI models now watch it. They mark where an ad can go without cutting a scene. They clip every six in a cricket match within seconds. They spot a pirated copy from a single frame. The pipes are becoming editors.

That is the technology behind the stream: encoding, playout, delivery, ads, protection and quality measurement, sold to the services and broadcasters that most viewers know. India has built some of its leading companies.

Who they hire

Who these companies hire, and for what, is on What streaming and broadcast companies hire for.

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