Adaptive Bitrate Streaming

Adaptive Bitrate (ABR) streaming automatically adjusts video quality based on network speed and device capability. Video file encoded once at 10+ bitrates (240p–4K). Player measures available bandwidth, requests optimal quality segment. As network changes, player switches quality seamlessly (usually imperceptible). Enables: Netflix serves 200M+ simultaneous streams, YouTube 1B+ hours watched/day, TikTok billions of videos. Without ABR, most streams would buffer/stall.