What is adaptive bitrate streaming (ABR)?
Adaptive bitrate streaming (ABR) delivers the same video at several quality levels and lets the player switch between them in real time to match each viewer's connection and screen. It's why a video starts fast on a phone on 4G and sharpens up on a laptop on wifi, instead of buffering on a single fixed file.
The problem it solves
A single high-quality file stalls on a slow connection; a single low-quality file looks soft on a fast one. ABR removes the tradeoff by preparing many versions of the video up front and choosing between them per viewer, per moment.
How it works
The source is transcoded into a bitrate ladder — several renditions from low to high — and each is cut into short segments. The player starts low for a fast first frame, measures throughput, and steps up or down the ladder segment by segment. HLS and DASH are the two protocols that carry it.
Why it matters for cost
ABR is table stakes for good playback, but preparing all those renditions is compute — the encoding step. Some providers bill you per minute for it; others include it. Either way, the bytes you deliver (and pay for) track which rung viewers actually watch.
How rehelios handles it
Every rehelios upload is transcoded into an adaptive ladder automatically, and encoding is free — you only pay for the storage the renditions use and the bytes delivered. Playback adapts on any device out of the box.