Streaming using adaptive bitrateAdaptive bitrate (ABR) streaming came on the market in a big way during the last 10 years. Its main innovations compared to traditional IP delivery were:
Using HTTP communication rather than UDP multicast - lowering the impact of individual packet loss events and supporting delivery over the Internet
Having multiple bitrates of the video available, called profiles or renditions
As network conditions change, this enables a device or app to seamlessly switch between different versions of the stream with higher or lower resolution or more or less compression. This is what makes adaptive bitrate streaming adaptive. Every version of the stream is split into pieces of up to a few seconds in duration, which are called segments, fragments, or chunks.
The most impactful formats are HLS from Apple and MPEG-DASH, defined by the MPEG standards group.
Why was CMAF created?Adaptive Bitrate Streaming as originally designed had several challenges.
The first one is latency. With a traditional HLS setup, the latency from the live signal can be as much as 30 to 60 seconds. This is problematic with content such as sports, where the viewer gets the action later than the neighbors.
A second challenge was fragmentation in the media formats used. HLS typically used Transport Stream segments, while DASH and Smooth Streaming opted for MP4. Supporting multiple formats meant that packaging must be duplicated with both TS and MP4. This leads to extra expenses in both packaging and CDN delivery. A way to handle this is just-in-time packaging where a single mezzanine format (say MP4) is encoded and then transmuxed to another container format such as TS on the fly. This lowers the encoding costs but not the CDN delivery costs.
In 2016, Apple added MP4 support to HLS in protocol version 7, and the same year, Microsoft and Apple jointly proposed a new standard based on MP4, called the Common Media Application Format. CMAF was officially published through MPEG in 2018 with support from HLS, Smooth Streaming and MPEG-DASH, thus allowing fragments to be reused across all technologies.
In parallel with this container format harmonization, there has also been a move towards standardizing the encryption of assets. CMAF is frequently used with Common Encryption, another harmonizing MPEG standard. This standard specifies how to encrypt the mdat payload and how to signal the encryption while allowing each DRM vendor to use its own method for retrieving the actual decryption keys. This way, the same fragments can be decrypted on multiple platforms with different DRM vendors.
How is it structured, and how does it enable lower latency?CMAF is based on the ISO Base Media File Format, which is a subset of the MP4 container format. The format uses the same concept of boxes as MP4, and many of the boxes used with traditional fragmented MP4 are still present in CMAF. A notable difference is that there is a hierarchy of smaller subdivisions:
The ability to divide a movie or live stream into smaller pieces is key in streaming applications. Rather than waiting for a full MP4 file to download, we want to download no more than a few seconds of content at a time, so that we can play and download at the same time.
But how does CMAF lower the latency from that baseline approach?
The key difference is what is called Chunked encoding . This means that a segment is internally subdivided into smaller units, called fragments and chunks. This allows a player to start decoding video without having to download the full segment (which could be between a few seconds to 10 seconds). For that to happen, the partial segment must be made available to the player via the CDN and origin. That part of the infrastructure must support the continuous transfer of the segments and fragments as the individual chunks are added to it.
SummaryCMAF enables both lower latency and more efficient use of resources, making it an important step towards a broadcast-like experience delivered over the top.
Additional technologies are also being developed to further improve latency numbers, for instance HESP, and the Low Latency HLS technology from Apple.
Most recent headlines
05/01/2027
Worlds first 802.15.4ab-UWB chip verified by Calterah and Rohde & Schwarz to be ...
06/09/2026
June 9 2026, 23:00 (PDT) Dolby and MagentaTV Bring Fans Closer to the FIFA Worl...
04/08/2026
Dalet, a leading technology and service provider for media-rich organizations, t...
06/07/2026
Long-developed relationships and informal access, three production models, and c...
06/07/2026
The deal follows Lumine's recent acquisition of Synamedia's video-networ...
06/07/2026
This former SportsCenter producer is shaping local-team studio coverage to surro...
06/07/2026
IMS Productions and FOX Sports deployed more than 100 cameras, 32 onboard feeds,...
06/07/2026
Lumine Group Inc. has announced the completion of its acquisition of the Video Network Business from Synamedia. The business will operate as a standalone compan...
06/07/2026
NASCAR has announced a content and commercial partnership with Motorsport Network, a motorsports and automotive media platform, to distribute NASCAR original co...
06/07/2026
Versant Media Group has announced a definitive agreement to acquire Full Swing, a sports technology company, from Bruin Capital and a group of minority investor...
06/07/2026
DAZN has announced global broadcast rights to 3ICE, a professional hockey format featuring three skaters and a goalkeeper per side, with no power plays or offsi...
06/07/2026
Bundle gains 100 new synths & more
Synth Anthology 5 the largest and most feature-packed edition of UVI's hardware synth emulation bundle, bringing toge...
06/07/2026
Available now via free firmware update
MOTU have just announced that three of their popular audio interfaces now boast official Milan Certification. The 16A...
06/07/2026
Rohde & Schwarz completes Hunter Preliminary Design Review for the Integrated Co...
06/07/2026
The R&S IMAGER from Rohde & Schwarz uses millimeter wave imaging to inspect the ...
06/07/2026
The National Film and Video Foundation (NFVF), an agency of the Department of Sp...
06/07/2026
Digital Domain Appoints Industry Veteran Patrick Davenport as Executive Vice Pre...
06/07/2026
Gravity Media USA appoints Brittney Boston as Head of Business Development
Brie Clayton July 6, 2026
0 Comments
The strategic new appointment supports...
06/07/2026
Remote Editing Without Cloud Storage in Resolve
Michael Cioni July 6, 2026
0 Comments
This is a step-by-step guide that demonstrates how to setup your...
06/07/2026
Automatic Caption Translation in Adobe Premiere Pro
Colin Smith July 6, 2026
0 Comments
Here I showcase the innovative automatic caption translation f...
06/07/2026
Flavor's First Ever Managing Director Neal Cohen Retires; Longstanding Execu...
06/07/2026
How Adam Rosenwach Pivoted from Music to Medtech Without Missing a Beat What do the rehearsal room and the boardroom have in common? More than you might think...
06/07/2026
Zhongyi Optics unveils the Dreamy Zone T1 FF Cine Lens Series on Indiegogo with ...
06/07/2026
Techtel debuts insyght: making ST 2110 media discovery easy
intellisphereinsyght2026
6 July Written By Suzanne Costello
Sydney, Australia - 06 July 2026 T...
06/07/2026
Monday 6 July 2026
Sky agrees to acquire ITV Media & Entertainment, creating a ...
06/07/2026
Fresh from his World Cup heroics with Cabo Verde, Roberto Pico' Lopes will join the RT panel for Argentina v Egypt tomorrow and for the England v Norway q...
06/07/2026
Nations have long invested in domestic infrastructure to advance their economies, protect and use their data, and take advantage of technology opportunities in ...
06/07/2026
Every year, the International Conference on Machine Learning (ICML) reveals where thousands of AI researchers have decided to put their work.
This year's ...
06/07/2026
A death can be unsuspicious, but it has to be explained
What happened to Ke...
05/07/2026
We've gone to another level of integrating the graphics into the set architecture' - Zac Fields, SVP, Graphic Technology and Integration, FOX Sports...
05/07/2026
Browser-based and desktop apps available
Digital Sunset Studios have been busy working on an interesting project: a free software tool that provides compute...
04/07/2026
When Canada qualified for the FIFA World Cup 2026, OneSoccer knew this wasn'...
04/07/2026
Celebrates company's 80th anniversary
Rhodes have recently revealed that they will be producing a limited run of electric pianos in celebration of their...
04/07/2026
Blackmagic Design Cameras Empower Youth Broadcasting Program
Brie Clayton July 3, 2026
0 Comments
Blackmagic Pocket Cinema Camera 6K Pro and Blackmagi...
04/07/2026
iZotope Joins Boris FX
Boris Yamnitsky July 3, 2026
0 Comments
iZotope, the team behind RX and Ozone, is joining Boris FX. A letter from founder Boris...
04/07/2026
April 7 2026, 19:00 (PDT) Detective Conan: Fallen Angel of the Highway Opens in...
03/07/2026
New bundle & three Single Packs
Continuing to expand their already sizeable orchestral collection, VSL's latest release introduces three new Single Pack...
03/07/2026
Venue installs new ATC-equipped control room
LSO St Luke's, a unique music venue that also serves as the home of the London Symphony Orchestra, have rec...
03/07/2026
Caden Pearson appointed new Commissioning Editor for NITV
3 July, 2026
Media releases
National Indigenous Television (NITV) has strengthened its commitment...
03/07/2026
1 February 2023
SHARE Facebook Twitter Linkedin Email
Munich, Germany, 1st February 2023: Cinegy GmbH, the premier provider of software technology for digit...
03/07/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
03/07/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
03/07/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
03/07/2026
Death Star
Andy Marken July 2, 2026
0 Comments
Look, I can't get involved. I've got work to do. It's not that I like the Empire; I hate i...
03/07/2026
Berklee's New Visual Identity: Honoring Our History, Building for What's...
03/07/2026
Scripps Research scientists awarded $2M to advance global disease surveillance Two Gates Foundation grants will expand wastewater surveillance and AI-driven dis...
03/07/2026
Joan Pulupa joins Scripps Research faculty to study the organization of DNA in brain cells and its links to neurodegeneration Using smell-sensing neurons and ad...
02/07/2026
Entering her senior year, this hometown girl is paving a career in live sports production gaining experience in replay and audio and as a TD
In the live-sports...
02/07/2026
In-venue and creative video staffers at the professional and collegiate level ha...
Streaming using adaptive bitrateAdaptive bitrate (ABR) streaming came on the market in a big way during the last 10 years. Its main innovations compared to traditional IP delivery were:
