HLS is the acronym for HTTP Live Streaming. It works for for streamed content but for on demand content too. HLS uses standard HTTP delivery of small segmented pieces of video (usually 10 seconds) encoded in various bitrates to enable a video player and CDN to optimize video quality and playback experience over a variety of network conditions.
IVA will soon be encoding all of its video content into multiple video bitrates optimized for mobile, web and OTT delivery. The new encodes will allow supported devices* to switch to playing a trailer in HD from a 3G connection over WiFi seamlessly without buffering. To enable this, IVA will be introducing new features to it's Video API that will allow developers to specify this new HLS format.
We think HLS is going to be another significant improvement in delivering top quality trailers for all our stakeholders, and worth IVA's investment of time and resources. We will let you know when we've completed all the encodes and the Video API and have completed HLS implementation.
* Supported Devices include iPhone 3 and higher, all iPads, Mac OS-X; nearly all set top boxes (Xbox, PS3, Roku, Apple TV, Boxee), as well as Android devices running ICE Cream Sandwich. IVA will also be introducing HLS in a future version of our Flash Player Platform as a plugin which will bring HLS to all PCs supporting Flash.