AWS MediaPackage as an origin for a CDN (CloudFront)

Question

The documentation for

OBS STUDIO TO AWS ELEMENTAL MEDIALIVE TO AWS ELEMENTAL MEDIAPACKAGE

Says:

Note: To use this workflow in production, it is highly recommended you use the AWS Elemental MediaPackage endpoint as an origin for a CDN such as Amazon CloudFront. The AWS Elemental MediaPackage console includes an option to create a CloudFront distribution during channel creation.

Why is it recommended to use the endpoint as an origin for a CDN such as CloudFront, while the example works without creating one. What are the disadvantages of not using CloudFront as a CDN but leave it with the MediaPackage Endpoint.

Answer 1

• You can indeed deliver your streams directly from a MediaPackage end-point. However we recommend to use the MediaPackage end-point as an origin for a CDN like CloudFront because a CDN would cache the segments and manifests and deliver them to the end-users from the edge caches.

• This prevents the end-users (video players, devices) from hitting the origin ie MediaPackage over and over again for the same segment.

• For instance if you have 10,000 users spread across the globe playing the same stream without a CDN shielding the MediaPackage, all your users will try to retrieve the content from the origin

• Some of them might experience a higher latency depending upon their geographical location

• Having a CDN like CloudFront ensures that the users get the video segments from an edge cache closer to their location thereby improving latency and quality of experience for the users

For more benefits and advantages of using Amazon CloudFront please see the link