How HLS Works

The blog post discusses the implementation of HTTP Live Streaming (HLS) for short video support on the Bluesky platform. HLS allows adaptive-bitrate live and Video-on-Demand streaming by providing plaintext playlist files that inform the player about available bitrates and resolutions. The post details the structure of Master Playlists and Media Playlists, explaining how they guide the player in selecting the appropriate media segments. It also covers tracking views, session durations, closed caption support, and adding trailers to videos within the HLS framework. By dynamically adjusting video quality based on network conditions and leveraging playlist manipulation, HLS enables efficient video streaming. The post concludes by highlighting the simplicity and transparency of HLS as a protocol, encouraging exploration of other protocols by examining their plaintext files.