A content delivery network optimized for video, distributing files across global servers so viewers load content from the nearest location.
A video CDN (Content Delivery Network) is a distributed network of servers positioned around the world that caches and delivers video content to viewers from the geographically closest location. Imagine a chain of local libraries instead of one central archive — rather than every viewer requesting video from a single origin server, they pull it from a nearby edge server that already has a copy.
When a video is first requested, the CDN fetches it from the origin server and caches it at an edge location near the viewer. Subsequent viewers in the same region get the video directly from that edge server, which is much faster than going back to the origin. Modern video CDNs maintain thousands of edge locations worldwide.
For video specifically, CDNs are optimized to handle the unique demands of streaming. Video files are large and delivered in sequential chunks (via HLS or DASH), so the CDN needs to efficiently cache and serve these segments while handling potentially millions of concurrent viewers. Advanced CDNs also perform real-time quality optimization, compressing segments on the fly based on network conditions.
Multi-CDN strategies take this further by routing traffic across multiple CDN providers simultaneously. If one provider experiences congestion or an outage in a region, traffic automatically shifts to another. This redundancy is critical for businesses that cannot afford playback failures.
Without a CDN, every viewer loads video from your origin server, which might be in a single data center. A viewer in Tokyo watching video hosted in Virginia experiences noticeable latency and buffering. A traffic spike from a popular social media post can overwhelm the server entirely.
A video CDN eliminates these problems. Viewers everywhere get fast, consistent playback. Traffic spikes are absorbed across the network. And because bandwidth costs decrease at CDN scale, delivery is more cost-effective than serving directly from origin.
host.video delivers video through a multi-CDN network with over 700 Tbps of combined capacity. Traffic is automatically routed to the fastest available provider for each viewer, with custom domain support and automatic SSL certificates.