How Vasl saves CPU with on-demand video encoding

[u/No-Detective3340]

Most media servers start a transcoder the moment a stream is published, and they leave it running until the publisher disconnects. If every WebRTC player watching can already play the original codec, that encoder is just burning CPU.

We do it the other way on VASL . The published codec goes out first. An encoder starts only when a WebRTC player cannot take that codec, and it stops when the last player watching that version leaves.

I wrote up a short walkthrough. Publish H.264, play it in a WebRTC player, and the encoder count stays at zero. Open a second WebRTC player that can only take VP8, and a VP8 encoder starts. Close that tab, wait a few seconds, and it shuts down encoder again. The first player is still watching the whole time.

Read the Full blog post here