Mindstamp help guide
What is HLS, and how is it different from MP4?
Compare HTTP Live Streaming with a static MP4 for startup time, adaptive quality, seeking, hosting, and video delivery.
Short answer
MP4 is a media file. HLS is a streaming delivery format that uses a manifest and many small media segments, often in several quality levels. An HLS player can adapt quality to the connection and screen, while a single MP4 gives every viewer the same encoded file.
How to do it
- Use Mindstamp’s optimized HLS option when it is available for the source workflow.
- Keep MP4 as a broadly compatible source or master-delivery format when required.
- For self-hosted HLS, serve every manifest and segment over HTTPS with correct content types and cross-origin access.
- Test startup, seeking, quality changes, captions, mobile playback, and caching on the published experience.
Why HLS can feel faster
Playback can begin after a few segments arrive rather than waiting on a large file, and the player can choose a lower rendition on a slow connection. The tradeoff is a more complex set of manifests, renditions, segments, and delivery rules.
HLS does not repair a poor master
Adaptive delivery chooses among the renditions that exist. It cannot add detail that was lost in the source or create a sharp large-screen result from a low-resolution master.
Current product references
These are the maintained sources used to verify this guide. Open them for the newest interface and plan details.
- How can I reduce the load time for an embedded video? — Current Help Center article
- What is video self-hosting? — Mindstamp guide
Need the live interface?
Use the current Help Center
These guides preserve useful answers at long-standing Mindstamp URLs. The Help Center carries the maintained product instructions.