Overview
Video experience depends on preparation, encoding, storage, delivery, playback and the viewer's connection. Planning with WAFGO starts with how these stages fit together, not a download-speed figure.
This is a video-delivery planning guide. Availability and charges for hosted transcoding, players, DRM or subtitles require separate confirmation; they are not presented as included services.
Treat on-demand and live content differently
Published media segments can benefit from cache reuse, while live playlists and time-sensitive objects need timely updates. Policies should reflect the object's role, not just its extension.
On-demand media
Organize segments, posters and captions under stable versioned paths to avoid mixing media generations at reused URLs.
Live delivery
Evaluate playlist freshness separately from segment caching and include startup, rebuffering and end-to-end delay in acceptance tests.
Large-file downloads
Check partial requests, resumption and long-lived connections, including behavior after interrupted transfers.
Carry authorization through every media request
Restricting the playback page does not protect publicly accessible media files. Referrer controls, short-lived access credentials and content encryption address different risks.
- Apply appropriate authorization to playlists, segments, captions and posters, and prevent private responses from leaking through shared caches.
- For paid media, evaluate credential expiry, playback continuation and multiple-device behavior.
- DRM depends on compatible clients and a licensing system; it cannot be described as preventing all recording or piracy.
Measure playback, not only transfer speed
Compare the same content, devices and regions across the full viewing session. Before major events, test traffic peaks and recovery when the origin is unavailable.
| Measure | What it reveals |
|---|---|
| Time to first frame and startup failures | Whether viewers can begin watching |
| Rebuffering and bitrate changes | Playback stability and adaptation |
| Cache hits, origin traffic and errors | Delivery efficiency and failure locations |
Implementation & checks
- 01
Inventory the media
Identify live or on-demand use, audience regions and existing media systems.
- 02
Validate end to end
Test processing, authorization, playback and caption behavior.
- 03
Prepare for events
Agree on capacity assessment, alerting and recovery arrangements.