Adaptive Bitrate Streaming

Perfect quality for every network

20 minutes

Intermediate

Auto-Quality

What is ABR? Adaptive Bitrate Streaming automatically adjusts video quality based on network conditions, ensuring smooth playback for all viewers.

Enable ABR on Your Stream

Single API call enables multi-bitrate encoding

import { WaveClient } from '@wave/sdk';

import { DesignTokens, getContainer, getSection } from '@/lib/design-tokens';
const wave = new WaveClient({
  apiKey: process.env.WAVE_API_KEY
});

// Create ABR-enabled stream
const stream = await wave.streams.create({
  title: 'Adaptive Stream',
  protocol: 'webrtc',
  abr: {
    enabled: true,
    // WAVE encodes 6 quality levels automatically
    ladder: 'default', // 'default' | 'dense' | 'sparse'
    profiles: [
      { name: '4K', width: 3840, height: 2160, bitrate: 8000, fps: 60 },
      { name: '1080p', width: 1920, height: 1080, bitrate: 4500, fps: 30 },
      { name: '720p', width: 1280, height: 720, bitrate: 2500, fps: 30 },
      { name: '480p', width: 854, height: 480, bitrate: 1200, fps: 30 },
      { name: '360p', width: 640, height: 360, bitrate: 700, fps: 30 },
      { name: '240p', width: 426, height: 240, bitrate: 400, fps: 30 }
    ],
    // Adaptation settings
    adaptation: {
      strategy: 'bandwidth-based', // 'bandwidth' | 'buffer' | 'hybrid'
      switchUpThreshold: 1.5,  // Switch up when bandwidth 1.5x higher
      switchDownThreshold: 0.8, // Switch down when bandwidth 0.8x lower
      minSwitchInterval: 5000   // Min 5s between switches
    }
  }
});

console.log('Master playlist:', stream.hls_url);
console.log('Profiles:', stream.abr.profiles.length);

WAVE handles all encoding, packaging, and CDN distribution automatically!

ABR Ladder Presets

Choose the right quality ladder for your use case

Default (6 profiles)

Balanced ladder for most use cases. Good coverage from 240p to 4K.

4K (8000kbps) • 1080p (4500kbps) • 720p (2500kbps) • 480p (1200kbps) • 360p (700kbps) • 240p (400kbps)

Dense (9 profiles)

More quality steps for smoother adaptation. Higher encoding cost.

Includes intermediate steps like 900p, 540p, 432p

Sparse (4 profiles)

Fewer profiles for faster encoding and lower costs.

1080p (4500kbps) • 720p (2500kbps) • 480p (1200kbps) • 240p (400kbps)

Monitor ABR Performance

Track quality switches and viewer experience

// Get ABR analytics
const analytics = await wave.analytics.get(streamId, {
  metrics: ['quality_switches', 'rebuffer_rate', 'startup_time']
});

console.log('Quality distribution:');
analytics.quality_distribution.forEach(q => {
  console.log(`  ${q.profile}: ${q.percentage}% of viewers`);
});
// Output:
//   1080p: 45% of viewers
//   720p: 30% of viewers
//   480p: 20% of viewers
//   360p: 5% of viewers

console.log(`Avg quality switches: ${analytics.avg_switches}/viewer`);
console.log(`Rebuffer rate: ${analytics.rebuffer_rate}%`);
console.log(`Startup time: ${analytics.startup_time}ms`);