While we wouldn’t exactly called Netflix’s streaming slow, we’re sure there are many users out there who can agree that it could be better, or even if you do like it the way it is, there’s always room for improvement. According to a recent report from Variety, it seems that is exactly what Netflix has done.For the most part Netflix has been doing what YouTube has been doing, which is automatically adjusting the quality of the video depending on your available bandwidth. However it was recently that the company realized that they might have been approaching this the wrong way. As Netflix video algorithms manager Anne Aaron puts it, “You shouldn’t allocate the same amount of bits for ‘My Little Pony’ as for ‘The Avengers.’”
The idea here is that for animated shows like My Little Pony, it can be reproduced with less data than it would for a more complex movie like The Avengers where a lot is going on in terms of action, CGI, and etc. The end result is that Netflix will be applying different encoding rules to each title available in their catalogue because according to Aaron, “A one-size-fits-all model doesn’t give you the most optimal quality.”
The end result are shows that users can stream in high quality than before, and possibly at lower data consumption too, resulting in a higher quality and potentially faster streaming experience. Netflix’s video algorithm team expects to re-encode all their shows and movies on their servers by the end of Q1 of 2016.
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