Use case · Streaming & media
Video on demand
Video on demand serves a library of pre-recorded video to viewers who watch what they want, when they want. It is storage-heavy — a library held in multiple qualities — with transcoding done in advance, and delivery via a CDN in front of the origin. Dedicated storage-rich, well-connected infrastructure holds and serves the library; EU hosting keeps content and viewer data sovereign.
Key points
- Video on demand serves a library of pre-recorded video, watched when viewers choose.
- It's storage-heavy — a library held in multiple qualities — the defining constraint for VOD.
- Transcoding is done in advance, preparing the library, unlike live's real-time transcoding.
- Delivery pairs a storage-rich, well-connected origin with a CDN.
- EU hosting keeps the content library and viewer data under European sovereignty.
What is video on demand, and what does it need?
Video on demand, VOD, serves a library of pre-recorded video to viewers who choose what to watch and when, rather than streaming a live event. The video exists as files, prepared in advance, and viewers request the content they want at the time they want it, so VOD is about holding a library of video and serving any of it to viewers on demand. This makes VOD storage-heavy — the library must be held — and its transcoding is done in advance rather than in real time, since the content is prepared before it is watched. These characteristics distinguish VOD from live streaming and shape its infrastructure.
What VOD needs, therefore, centres on storing the library, preparing it through transcoding done ahead of time, and delivering any of it to viewers on demand. The library, with each video held in multiple qualities for adaptive streaming, amounts to substantial storage; the transcoding to produce those qualities is done in advance and stored; and delivery serves whatever content each viewer requests, commonly through a content delivery network in front of the origin. This page focuses on VOD; live streaming and transcoding are covered on their own pages, while what follows attends to what serving an on-demand library specifically requires.
Storage for the video library
Storage is the defining consideration for VOD, because a video-on-demand service holds a library of video, and with each title stored in multiple qualities, the total storage grows large. A VOD library may hold a great deal of video, and adaptive streaming means each title is stored in several bitrates and resolutions, multiplying the storage each title needs; so the library's total storage can be very substantial, and it grows as content is added. This makes storage capacity the primary requirement of VOD infrastructure, more central than for live streaming, since VOD's defining feature is the library it holds.
The storage must also serve the video fast enough to stream it and be reliable, since the library is the service's content. Storage for VOD needs capacity for the library and its multiple qualities, the throughput to serve streams from it, and reliability, since losing the library would be losing the service's content, so it should be dependable and backed up. Fast storage feeding a content delivery network that handles much of the viewer delivery is a common arrangement. We provide storage-rich infrastructure for VOD, sized for the library and its qualities, with the throughput to serve it and the reliability the content warrants, so that a VOD service's library is held with the capacity, speed, and dependability it needs.
Pre-transcoding the library
VOD transcodes its video in advance, preparing each title into the multiple qualities adaptive streaming uses and storing them ready to serve, which differs from live streaming's real-time transcoding. Because the content exists before it is watched, VOD can transcode it ahead of time, converting each video into the ladder of bitrates and resolutions that adaptive streaming offers, and storing all these versions so they are ready when a viewer requests the title. This pre-transcoding means the compute for it happens when content is added, not while viewers watch, so it is not under the real-time pressure live transcoding faces.
This pre-transcoding is still compute-intensive, especially for a large library or high resolutions, and benefits from capable compute, often GPU-accelerated. Transcoding a library into multiple qualities takes significant compute, done as content is added or in batches, and GPU acceleration speeds it; but because it is done in advance, it can be scheduled and does not need to keep pace with real time. The transcoded versions are then stored, adding to the storage the library needs. We provide the compute VOD's pre-transcoding needs, including GPU acceleration, so that a library can be prepared into the qualities adaptive streaming uses ahead of time — a substantial but non-real-time task, covered further on the transcoding page.
Delivering on-demand video
Delivering VOD to viewers, like other streaming, commonly pairs the origin holding the library with a content delivery network that serves viewers, adapted to the on-demand pattern. The origin holds the video library and serves it, but delivering every stream from the origin would demand enormous bandwidth and be slow for distant viewers; a content delivery network caches popular content across locations and serves it to viewers from nearby, offloading much of the delivery from the origin. For VOD, the delivery network caches the content viewers request, and the origin serves what is not cached, so together they deliver the on-demand library efficiently.
The origin remains important as the source holding the whole library and serving what the delivery network does not cache, so it must be storage-rich and well-connected. Popular content is cached by the delivery network and served from there, while less-requested content is served from the origin, so the origin must hold the full library and serve requests for anything not cached, well-connected enough to feed the network and handle direct requests. We provide storage-rich, well-connected origin infrastructure for VOD — holding the full library and serving it to a content delivery network that distributes it to viewers — so that the on-demand library is held and delivered through the origin-and-CDN combination. The CDN is a complementary service working with the origin we host.
The catalogue and access patterns
VOD viewers watch different content at different times and seek within videos, so the access pattern is spread across the library and over time, which differs from live streaming's concentrated, synchronous audience. Because viewers choose what and when to watch, at any moment different viewers are watching different titles at different points, and they may seek to arbitrary positions within a video, so the access is distributed across the library rather than concentrated on one live stream. This spread means the load is generally less synchronised than live, though popular new content can still draw many viewers around its release.
This access pattern shapes how VOD is delivered and cached: the delivery network caches popular content, which many viewers request, while the long tail of less-popular content is served from the origin, and seeking within videos means serving arbitrary parts of them. The infrastructure must support this distributed access — serving any part of any title on request — with the origin holding everything and the delivery network caching the popular content. We provide origin infrastructure that holds the full library and serves any part of any title on demand, working with a delivery network that caches the popular content, so that VOD's distributed access pattern — different viewers, different content, seeking within videos — is served well.
Scalability for VOD
VOD must scale to serve many viewers, though its load is generally spread across content and time rather than concentrated as live's is, and popular content can still bring peaks. As a VOD service grows its audience, the delivery must handle more viewers, which the content delivery network largely does by caching and distributing content across its locations, backed by a storage-rich origin. Because viewers watch various content at various times, the load is often less spiky than live, but the release of popular new content can draw many viewers around the same time, bringing peaks the delivery must absorb.
Supporting VOD scale means the origin and delivery being able to handle the audience and any peaks. The delivery network scales viewer delivery across its locations and caches popular content to serve it efficiently; the origin must hold the growing library and serve the delivery network and direct requests under load; and provisioning for the peaks popular releases bring prepares for them. We provide origin infrastructure sized to hold the library and serve the load a VOD service places on it, working with a delivery network that scales viewer delivery, so that VOD can serve a growing audience and absorb the peaks popular content brings — with the storage-rich origin and the scaled delivery together handling the on-demand audience.
Sovereignty, and where VV Internet Hosting fits
VOD involves a content library — which may be valuable or licensed — and viewer data, including the personal data of European viewers, so where the infrastructure runs governs these, making sovereignty a consideration. VV Internet Hosting is incorporated in the Netherlands, within the EU, so VOD infrastructure hosted with us runs under European jurisdiction and outside the direct reach of the US CLOUD Act, keeping the content library and viewer data under European law. For a VOD service handling European viewers' data, or content that should stay sovereign, keeping the infrastructure in the EU addresses it.
We host storage-rich, well-connected dedicated infrastructure for VOD: the storage capacity a video library and its multiple qualities need, compute including GPU acceleration for pre-transcoding, and capable origin infrastructure to hold the library and serve it to a content delivery network — in EU datacenters under European jurisdiction. This suits VOD services that want capable, storage-rich, sovereign origin and transcoding infrastructure they control. We are clear about our limits: we provide the origin, storage, and transcoding infrastructure, while a content delivery network for viewer delivery is a distinct, complementary service working in front of the origin we host; and we are not a managed VOD platform. We are the dedicated, sovereign infrastructure for a VOD service's library, origin, and transcoding — and if that fits your needs, we can host it well.
Related use cases
Questions
VOD streaming, answered plainly
Common questions about hosting for VOD streaming.
How is video on demand different from live streaming?
VOD serves a library of pre-recorded video that viewers watch when they choose, so it's storage-heavy — the library is held, each title in multiple qualities — and its transcoding is done in advance, not in real time. Live streaming delivers video in real time as it happens. VOD's load is spread across content and time; live's is concentrated on one synchronous stream.
Why is storage the main concern for VOD?
Because a VOD service holds a library of video, and with each title stored in multiple qualities for adaptive streaming, the total storage grows large and keeps growing as content is added. Storage capacity is VOD's primary requirement, along with the throughput to serve streams and the reliability to protect the library, which is the service's content.
Do you provide the CDN for VOD delivery?
We provide the storage-rich, well-connected origin that holds the full library and serves it. A content delivery network for viewer delivery is a distinct, complementary service working in front of the origin we host, caching popular content across locations to reach viewers efficiently while the origin serves the rest. We host the capable origin the CDN draws from, in the EU for sovereignty.
Planning VOD streaming infrastructure?
We host dedicated, EU-sovereign infrastructure sized to your workload — and we will tell you plainly when something else fits better. Tell us what you're building.