MSPlayer: Multi-Source and multi-Path LeverAged YoutubER

TL;DR

MSPlayer is a client-based video streaming system that leverages multiple sources and network paths to improve streaming quality, reduce latency, and enhance robustness on mobile devices.

Contribution

It introduces a novel multi-source, multi-path streaming approach tailored for mobile devices with multiple wireless interfaces.

Findings

Reduces start-up latency in mobile video streaming

Improves video quality and robustness in mobile scenarios

Demonstrates effectiveness through experiments on testbed and YouTube

Abstract

Online video streaming through mobile devices has become extremely popular nowadays. YouTube, for example, reported that the percentage of its traffic streaming to mobile devices has soared from 6% to more than 40% over the past two years. Moreover, people are constantly seeking to stream high quality video for better experience while often suffering from limited bandwidth. Thanks to the rapid deployment of content delivery networks (CDNs), popular videos are now replicated at different sites, and users can stream videos from close-by locations with low latencies. As mobile devices nowadays are equipped with multiple wireless interfaces (e.g., WiFi and 3G/4G), aggregating bandwidth for high definition video streaming has become possible. We propose a client-based video streaming solution, MSPlayer, that takes advantage of multiple video sources as well as multiple network paths through different interfaces. MSPlayer reduces start-up latency and provides high quality video streaming and robust data transport in mobile scenarios. We experimentally demonstrate our solution on a testbed and through the YouTube video service.