Biographical Information

Articles for Akhil Ramachandran

Anatomy of a low-latency origin service

At the core of every streaming workflow is the origin server—the system that receives encoded video segments and playlist files from an encoder and makes them available to the distribution network. The origin acts as the authoritative source for the stream, ensuring that each request from a video player, whether for the latest HLS segment or an updated manifest, is served with accuracy and speed. Its performance directly impacts startup latency, playback stability, and the ability of a stream to scale to millions of concurrent viewers.