HTTP Live Streaming (HLS) - Apple Developer

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HTTP Live Streaming

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• Overview
• Examples
• FairPlay Streaming

HTTP Live Streaming

Send live and on‐demand audio and video to Apple devices and PCs with HTTP Live Streaming (HLS) technology from Apple. Using the same protocol that powers the web, HLS lets you deploy content using ordinary web servers and content delivery networks. HLS is designed for reliability and dynamically adapts to network conditions by optimizing playback for the available speed of wired and wireless connections.

Documentation

• What’s new in HTTP Live Streaming 2025
• HTTP Live Streaming Overview
• Enabling Low-Latency HLS
• Example Playlist Files for use with HTTP Live Streaming
• HLS Authoring Specification for Apple Devices
• MPEG-2 Stream Encryption Format for HTTP Live Streaming
• Preparing Audio for HTTP Live Streaming
• Delivering Video Content for Safari
• Timed Metadata for HTTP Live Streaming
• Understanding the EXT-X-VERSION Tag
• Using CMAF with HTTP Live Streaming
• JSON Chapter Format for HTTP Live Streaming
• HTTP Live Streaming 2nd Edition Specification
• HTTP Live Streaming 2nd Edition Specification - Preliminary version 18
• Changes in HTTP Live Streaming 2nd Edition Specification - v17 vs preliminary version 18
• RFC 8216: HTTP Live Streaming Specification

Videos

See the latest advances in HTTP Live Streaming presented at WWDC and other events.

• Discover media performance metrics in AVFoundation
• Enhance ad experiences with HLS interstitials
• Explore AirPlay with interstitials
• Deliver video content for spatial experiences
• Authoring 4K and HDR HLS Streams
• What’s new in HLS Interstitials
• Display ads and interstitials in SharePlay
• Deliver reliable streams with HLS Content Steering
• All HLS-related videos

Streaming Tools

Get HTTP Live Streaming tools, including the Media Streaming Validator Tool to validate your HLS streams and deployments.

Download the tools

Learn about the tools

Streaming Examples

View examples of .M3U8 files formatted to index streams and .ts media segment files.

View examples

Developer Forums

Ask questions and discuss HLS with Apple engineers and other developers.

View forum

Related Resources

AirPlay AVFoundation