How we ensure the highest possible video/audio stream.
By default, all videos play back using a technology called adaptive streaming. This process breaks a video up into smaller chunks. Our player then delivers these segments sequentially in real time.
We generate multiple playback versions, and the player will intelligently choose the highest quality possible based on network connection, graphics processing ability, and player size. As long as the original source file and their viewing environment supports it, videos can be viewed in resolutions up to 1080p. (We hope to be able to offer higher qualities such as 4K in the future.)
That said, we always encode at an above-average quality level, as we value quality video over anything else. Each playback resolution has its own cap in order to preserve smooth playback over the internet, and these caps correspond with our bandwidth requirements for each viewing quality. For instance, we cap 1080p video bitrates at 5 Mbps, which is significantly higher than other online video services.
For audio, we encode to two stereo channels, regardless of the channels on the original video file. We will always encode audio up to 256 Kb/s, but if the internet connection does not need to use all the available bitrate, the player will provide as much as needed, given your setup.