CDN (Content Delivery Network)
A CDN distributes video content across geographically distributed servers to ensure fast and reliable delivery.
What is a CDN?
A Content Delivery Network (CDN) is a distributed network of servers that delivers video content from locations closer to viewers instead of a single central server. This reduces load times, buffering, and playback failures.
Why CDNs matter in OTT platforms
OTT platforms serve viewers across countries, devices, and network conditions. Without a CDN, video streams would be slow, unreliable, and expensive to scale. CDNs are critical for delivering smooth playback during traffic spikes such as live sports or new content launches.
How a CDN works in practice
When a viewer presses play, the video is served from the nearest CDN edge server rather than the origin. The CDN caches video segments, adapts delivery based on network conditions, and offloads traffic from the core infrastructure.
Where you encounter CDNs
CDNs operate behind the scenes but directly impact startup time, buffering rates, and overall video quality across mobile apps, web players, and Smart TVs.