Apple details HTTP streaming in proposed IETF spec
updated 09:55 am EDT, Fri July 10, 2009
Apple's HTTP stream spec
Apple has submitted a specification to the Internet Engineering Task Force, hoping to have HTTP Live Streaming adopted as a universal protocol, reports say. The format already exists in Safari 4 and iPhone 3.0, and should eventually be integrated into Mac OS X Snow Leopard, but does not currently have backing outside of Apple. Should the technology become standard it could potentially replace various audio/video plug-ins, such as Flash and Silverlight.
The specification calls for an MPEG-2 transport stream, as well as version of the M3U playlist format called M3U8. The transport stream is broken into smaller pieces, which are saved separately and later reassembled using M3U8. In the case of real-time broadcasts, the playlist is occasionally refreshed, permitting new segments to be downloaded as needed.
Backup or lower-quality streams are supported through separate playlists, which can be switched between at will. When leaving Wi-Fi range and connecting to a 3G network, for instance, smaller stream segments can be used, accounting for the diminished bandwidth. Broadcasters can further choose to reference encryption files in a playlist, or deliberately block caching.
Although only an MPEG-2 stream is required, Apple is currently using H.264 video compression with AAC audio. MP3 and direct MPEG-2 audio are supported as well. Apple's standard is at the moment available to examine in draft form.
Interesting image
07/10, 10:17am reply
Did I miss a Battlestar Galactica reference in the article? Not that I mind pictures of Tricia Helfer...
cmoney
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Joined: Sep 2000
BSG
07/10, 10:21am reply
Is this Cylon tech?
Salty
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Joined: Jul 2005
That proposal should
07/10, 10:31am reply
go over like a lead balloon. Like Adobe and Microsoft want to give up their technology for Apple's way. Whatever way Microsoft wants to do it, that's how it's going to turn out for everyone. Apple has no pull whatsoever. Microsoft always wins. I've always gotten the feeling that the industry just loves plug-ins.
Constable Odo
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good luck
07/10, 10:38am (1 reply) reply
I agree with Constable Odo. When exactly did Apple ever produce a standard that was universally adopted? Um....like, never!
Feathers
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Joined: Oct 1999
not this time
07/10, 11:50am (1 reply) reply
This time, Apple's got Google on their side.
WiseWeasel
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Joined: Apr 1999
@Feathers
07/10, 04:21pm reply
"When exactly did Apple ever produce a standard that was universally adopted? Um....like, never!"
Better dust off your history book folks. How 'bout MPEG-4 (based on the QuickTime container format), TrueType, FireWire (the IEEE-1394 standard). Even Apple's WebKit is used by Google Chrome and others. Should I go on?
akulavolk
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Re: @Feathers
07/10, 05:37pm (1 reply) reply
Better dust off your history book folks. How 'bout MPEG-4 (based on the QuickTime container format), TrueType, FireWire (the IEEE-1394 standard). Even Apple's WebKit is used by Google Chrome and others. Should I go on?
MPEG-4 might be based on Quicktime's container format (might being the operative word), the container format itself is not a standard, and Apple didn't do the pushing of this.
As for WebKit, that isn't a standard, and is used by Google (wow, universal!) and that's about it. OS X programmers use it, but that's because its the framework in OS X.
And keep in mind WebKit came from the Linux world as the Konqueror browser for KDE. So they didn't produce it, they updated it.
LouZer
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Don't forget
07/11, 12:17am reply
Floppy disks, both 5.25" and 3.5". Apple had the first inexpensive 5.25" floppy drives (thanks Woz!), and the Mac's introduction brought the then-new 3.5" floppy into existence.
Also, USB would have withered into obscurity, had Apple not made it the only means of expansion with the introduction of the iMac in 1998, replacing USB's inspiration the Apple Desktop Bus (ADB. Sure, they didn't invent it, but they had the first WORKING implementation, and spurred a whole industry of peripheral makers.
On the WebKit front, there are many companies that use it, beyond Apple and Google. Adobe uses it for at least one of their products, and Nokia, Palm, and Samsung (I believe) use WebKit for phone browsers and WebOS. It isn't a standard, but it is open and largely developed by Apple. The khtml core that it is based on, is dwarfed by Apple's efforts to improve and extend the implementation well beyond what the KDE team had done. So much so, that Konqueror ported to WebKit, as it became much more advanced and incompatible with khtml.
On the standards front, Apple does not have to go to any body to make this a standard. They have already implemented it, and sites (like Youtube) could also implement this. Keep in mind that neither Flash nor Silverlight are "standards". Apple is pushing for this because it enables a much better end user experience for everyone, and it cuts out proprietary plug-ins that may not be available for every platform.
What objections will other companies have for this proposal? This proposed standard will do an end-run around our proprietary solution! We won't support this, because we didn't think of it first! That MPEG-2 stream part should allow for a WMV stream with a WMA audio channel, because this is the industry standard,,,
On the surface, all of these objections are silly, and the proposed standard makes sense, and uses established non-proprietary standards.
-- Len
LenE
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WebKit didn't...
07/13, 05:59pm reply
WebKit didn't come from KDE or Linux. It is a fork of KHTML, which of course did come from KDE. But almost since the beginning in 2003, Apple has developed it into a totally different beast.
To confuse things, KDE dropped KHTML in KDE 4 and adopted WebKit.
leamanc
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