Last Updated on Jan 21, 2021 by James W

Growing up in the era of technological advancement, we all have come across the word “live”- Ever made a video call? Or have you seen a roadshow happening in real-time? And what about cricket? We all watch it, right? Well, welcome to the world of “live streaming.”

Technology is now a vital component in everyday life; you cannot simply survive without it. Particularly during this pandemic when the whole world has been isolated, the only thing that is keeping everyone connected is an internet connection. The whole dynamic of learning and professional work has taken a 360-degree turn and everything has moved online.

Since this pandemic has encroached our lives, all of us have witnessed schooling, business conferences, and even social gatherings going live. People have now come to understand that there are a lot more interesting things that can be achieved through live streams and there is a world full of wonderful opportunities out there, thanks to available prevailing services like Spectrum TV . But how many of us actually know how does this magical technology works?

We all know that live streaming means watching any broadcasted content that is being created in real-time, which means it is not pre-recorded, edited and uploaded like other shows and videos we watch all day. However, you cannot just take a camera and start a live event; there’s a proper mechanism with a long chain of steps that processes data and helps bring us real-time footage of what’s happening on the other side. Let’s look at it step by step.

Step 1 – Capturing Video

A video recording device captures content that a server broadcasts in the form of visual data and that too in real-time. The device then saves it as digital data in binary language that is understandable to computing devices for further processes.

Step 2 – Segmenting

The digital information that is developed during video recordings are huge and therefore it is difficult to process them all at once for live streaming. To overcome obstacles and avoid any hindrance in the flow of data, data is segmented in shorter bits of few seconds in length.

Step 3 – Compression

This step ensures that repeated data must not overlap so that it would not occupy unnecessary space on an already heavier file so that it would be easy to process it for further steps without any interruption. The main purpose of this step is to save space for better accumulation of data.

Step 4 – Encoding

Encoding is all about the conversion of digital data coming from video recording into a recognizable or a device-friendly format so that users can access it from their devices by using a general or a particular app.

Step 5 – Content Delivery Network (CDN)

Content Delivery Network plays an important role in live streaming as it shortens the distance between servers from its users. It also helps reduce the time taken by web pages to load.

Step 6 – Caching

Caching is also performed by CDNs during their processes. It temporarily saves data for efficient flowing. This caching occupies a bit space in a user’s device but ensures better data flow.  Therefore, sometimes users watch data from their own cache instead of the original server.

Step 7 – Decoding

This step is all about receiving data and further translating or interpreting that data to achieve the actual command required. This is so far the final yet important step because if the data is not translated it cannot be processed further and a user wont be connected to live stream.

Step 8 – Live Stream

As soon as the device’s operating system decodes segmented data it is decompressed at once and the default media player or referred application interprets the data into its visual information as it was captured during the video recording and plays it on a device for users to enjoy. Live streaming usually means one-to-many connection, i.e. broadcasting content to a larger audience but is also used for one-to-one communication.

A Few Final Words

These few steps make online meetings and interactions miraculously possible for people around the world. One can see that this is all about collection, conversion, sorting, interpretation, and representation of data simply. These steps are completed so quickly, nearly in microseconds, which makes it possible to broadcast an event as it is happening.