Comparison of the initial delay for video playout start for different HTTP-based transport protocols

Abstract

This paper details a measurement study on the impact of different HTTP-based application layer protocols, namely HTTP/1, HTTP/2 and QUIC, on video streaming performance. In this context we evaluate the influence on the initial delay until video playout is started using the live version of the YouTube platform. Furthermore, we evaluate how different network parameters, i.e. bandwidth, RTTs and packet loss influence the different protocols. This work presents an overview over the characteristics of the compared protocols and presents a detailed measurement methodology on how the data has been obtained. Finally, the observed data is evaluated in the context of YouTube video streaming.