Overseas Video Cloud Live Streaming System Architecture Practice

This article shares Tencent Cloud's practical experience in building overseas video live streaming systems. The content covers three main areas: overseas network and data center construction, software system design, and network optimization.

Overseas Network and Data Center Construction: The global network is divided into three major regions: North America, Asia-Pacific (Hong Kong, Singapore), and Europe (Germany). Dealing with approximately 2,000 overseas carriers requires a tiered approach - purchasing from Tier1 carriers to cover 60-70% of needs, negotiating with Tier2 carriers, and leveraging Tier3 carriers who主动 seek partnerships for better content quality.

Software System Design: A decentralized architecture is adopted, deploying origin server systems in each existing data center. Each origin server includes streaming media ingestion (RTMP), transcoding, recording, screenshot, storage, and CDN distribution capabilities. The system implements dual-active state synchronization with eventual consistency within an 11-second tolerance threshold.

Network Optimization: The key challenges addressed include: 1) Scheduling complexity - implementing DNS-based scheduling with ECS support; 2) Single point of failure - automated monitoring and node elimination; 3) Cross-region backhaul via public networks - implementing QUIC protocol for transmission acceleration; 4) RTT issues - deploying QTCP (Tencent's BBR-like solution) for last-mile edge optimization. Results show stutter rate reduced from 6.5% to 4.8% for uplink and further to 3.6% for downlink after optimization.

The core difference between overseas and domestic systems lies in achieving maximum marginal returns under comprehensive cost control, with emphasis on fine-grained scheduling and weak network optimization.