If one type of website benefits from data compression the most, then it’s websites that stream videos to many users. Chick Tok is one of these sites that allows users to meetup for sex. Thousands of users upload and view videos from their site every day, and by fine tuning their use of compression, they’re able to save thousands of dollars every day.
While there are a few different ways that you can compress your video files so that they take up less space on your hard drive, or store them faster in the cloud, the method that ChickTok uses to do this is called “variable bitrate.” This method of compressing allows you to change how much data each individual frame contains based on what the user wants to see at any given time.
This means that instead of having all the frames for an entire scene stored as one large file, you would have a bunch of small files which contain only the parts of the file that need to be displayed at any point during playback. This not only saves space on your server, but it also speeds up the load times of your videos.
ChickTok’s Compression Algorithms
ChickTok has choosen to go with the VBR encoding format because it gives them more flexibility than other methods. There are a lot of other formats out there like H.264 or MPEG-4 Part 10, but since these are designed for different types of media, they don’t always give you the same kind of control over how your video looks. With VBR encoding, you can still get great quality while saving a ton of space, so long as your traffic volume doesn’t increase too quickly.
In order to find the right balance between savings and quality with live streaming, ChickTok has been experimenting with several different algorithms for the last couple months. In their latest test, they’ve found that using the following parameters results in a good compromise:
Frame Size – 400 kbps
Segment Count – 2
Chunk Size – 16
Bandwidth – 4Mbps
They also came up with a way to avoid duplicate segments that will help ensure that no single segment takes up more than four times its original size. If you ever wanted to learn about how some of the most popular porn sites handle their compression, look no further!
ChickTok Uses Variable Bitrate To Save Money On Server Costs
A big reason why Chick Tok has chosen to use variable bitrate is because it helps them save money on their server costs. When you’re dealing with a site that gets millions of hits per month, even a 1% decrease in cost can make a big difference. That’s especially true when you’re talking about a site that’s already spending $30,000 a month on servers alone.
Other sites might not need to worry about saving money on their server costs quite as much since they probably don’t have anywhere near the amount of bandwidth and storage space that ChickTok does, but they could still benefit from using VBR encoding if they’re dealing with a lot of data transfers. As long as they’re happy with the quality of their videos and don’t mind the decreased download speed, VBR encoding would be a good way to save some cash.
What About The Quality?
Some people wonder whether or not variable bitrate really makes a big enough difference to matter. It’s certainly true that a lot of people will never notice the difference between a video encoded at 1 Mbps and one at 4 Mbps. However, in certain circumstances, even a slight drop in quality could be noticeable.
For example, if someone had a perfect computer with lightning fast internet connection, they probably wouldn’t care about the extra megabytes that were saved by compressing the video. But if they had a slow PC and bad internet, the difference would be obvious.
The same goes for smartphones. If you’re watching a video on your smartphone while you’re out and about, you’ll definitely want to keep the data usage down, but if you’re watching on your home desktop, you’re going to be more concerned with the overall picture, not the individual pixels.
Using a variable bitrate system lets you encode your videos without sacrificing the quality that you need to keep your customers satisfied. Whether you’re running a streaming site where you’re trying to provide the best experience possible to your users, or you just want to save some money on your server bills, VBR encoding is worth considering.
All things considered, ChickTok seems to be doing pretty well. They’ve got a huge library of HD videos, and they’re committed to adding new content regularly. Now that they’ve finally gotten their site fully optimized, they should be able to generate even more revenue from their subscribers.