CDN stands for Content Delivery Network. It is the infrastructure that delivers your live stream to viewers around the world. Without a CDN, your stream would be slow, unreliable, and unable to scale. This guide explains how it works in plain English.
What a CDN does
A CDN is a network of servers distributed around the globe. When a viewer in New York watches your stream, the video is served from a nearby server rather than being sent all the way from the origin server in Europe. This reduces latency and buffering.
CDNs also handle scale. If 1,000 viewers all watch your stream at the same time, the CDN distributes the load across multiple servers. Without a CDN, a single server would struggle under the traffic.
Why it matters for live streaming
Live streaming is latency-sensitive. Every millisecond of delay between the server and the viewer causes buffering. A CDN minimises this delay by serving content from the geographically closest server.
For paid streams, reliability is especially important. Viewers who pay for a ticket expect a smooth experience. A CDN provides the infrastructure to deliver on that expectation.
What to look for
Most streaming platforms include CDN delivery in their pricing. You do not need to set up or manage the CDN yourself. However, the quality of the CDN varies between platforms.
Enterprise-grade CDNs like those used by Mux, Fastly, and Cloudflare deliver the best performance. Check which CDN your streaming platform uses before committing.
Enterprise-grade delivery
PassCast uses Mux, which delivers video via a global CDN optimised for live streaming. Your viewers get fast, reliable playback worldwide.
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