DASH

Dynamic Adaptive Streaming over HTTP

An adaptive bitrate streaming protocol that enables high-quality streaming of media content over the internet. It was developed by the Moving Picture Experts Group (MPEG) and published as an international standard in 2011.

Like HLS (HTTP Live Streaming), DASH works by breaking media content into smaller chunks and delivering them to the user’s device via HTTP. The key feature of DASH is its adaptiveness, which allows it to dynamically adjust the quality of the streamed content based on the viewer’s network conditions and device capabilities, ensuring a smooth and uninterrupted playback experience.

DASH supports multiple quality levels (also called bitrates) for the same content, and the user’s device can switch between these quality levels during playback to provide the best possible viewing experience. This adaptiveness helps prevent buffering and provides an optimal streaming experience even in situations where network conditions are unstable or bandwidth is limited.

One of the advantages of DASH is that it is codec-agnostic, meaning it can work with various audio and video codecs, allowing content providers to choose the codecs that best suit their needs. DASH is widely supported across various platforms and devices, making it a popular choice for media streaming on the internet alongside other protocols like HLS.

• Abbreviation: DASH