Smooth Streaming

With new support for Smooth Streaming from Microsoft, Limelight Networks once again allows customers to choose from the world’s leading platforms for streaming online media. Smooth Streaming is an advanced delivery concept that uses industry-standard HTTP and enables adaptive bit rate media distribution to Silverlight players. Content can be offloaded to Limelight’s robust storage architecture — or hosted on the customer’s origin using Microsoft’s Internet Information Server (IIS) 7.

Delivering the best experience

Adaptive bit rate delivery gets your audience off to a fast start, because seek and startup can be initiated at the lowest-possible bit rate. Once the user hits Play, Smooth Streaming seamlessly adapts delivery to a higher bit rate, depending on network conditions and CPU capabilities. It continues to switch video quality in real time as available bandwidth shifts. So your audience enjoys a consistent, smooth playback experience — no stutters and no disconnects.

Skipping forward and back within the media file is also fast. Unlike traditional HTTP delivery, users can jump to any part of the video they want to see (or see again). And since HTTP is highly cacheable, Smooth Streaming leverages Limelight’s advanced infrastructure to keep your content moving at lightning speeds — and steering clear of the busy (and unpredictable) public Internet.

Learn more about Smooth Streaming from Microsoft.

Extending your reach

Now you can reach your customers, whether they’re at home or at the office. HTTP-based Smooth Streaming enables delivery over Port 80 into network environments that block access to traditional streaming protocols, such as RTMP.

Gearing up for Smooth Streaming

To get started with Smooth Streaming, you’ll need the full version of Microsoft’s Expression Encoder 3. (Support for Smooth Streaming encoding is not included in the Express trial version.) Smooth Streaming requires the same source content be encoded at several quality levels, each as its own separate file. To help you choose the appropriate bit rates for encoding, try this handy Smooth Streaming Multi Bit Rate Calculator.

Don’t have a Silverlight player? Limelight Networks provides Smooth Streaming customers with free code. Choose from Expression Encoder 3 templates or the Open Video Player (OVP), Silverlight version.

Faster, smarter, better

For the fastest and most consistent performance, combine Smooth Streaming with Limelight’s next-generation XD Platform. XD adds a layer of intelligence to our time-tested global network to streamline and accelerate the entire delivery path. Learn more about the XD Platform.