Content Delivery Networks: How Netflix Delivers Movies
Content Delivery Networks (CDNs) form the backbone of modern internet content distribution, enabling companies like Netflix to deliver high-quality video to millions of concurrent users worldwide. Let's dive into how CDNs work, with Netflix as our primary case study.
Netflix CDN Architecture Diagram
The CDN Challenge: Delivering Petabytes of Video Content
Netflix streams over 220 million hours of video per day across 190+ countries. At peak times, Netflix traffic can account for up to 15% of global internet traffic. How do they manage this tremendous load?
The answer lies in their custom-built CDN called Open Connect.
What is a CDN?
A Content Delivery Network is a distributed network of servers that delivers content to users based on their geographic location. Instead of serving content from a central location, CDNs cache content on edge servers positioned closer to end users, minimizing latency and reducing bandwidth costs.
Why Traditional CDNs Weren't Enough for Netflix
Before 2011, Netf…
