Livepeer - Decentralized Video Streaming Infrastructure
Sector: Tertiary sector · Industry: Broadcasting and television · Organisation: Livepeer, Inc. · Maturity level: Production
Livepeer is a decentralized protocol on the Ethereum blockchain for video transcoding and streaming that has been actively operating since 2017. The system uses distributed nodes to convert videos into different formats while reducing costs compared to centralized streaming providers. Since its founding, 150 million minutes of video have been processed through the network.
Documentation status
- Project status: Production
- Evidence: Evidence high
- Editorial review: Ufuk Avci, 15 April 2026
Description
Livepeer was founded in 2017 in New York by Doug Petkanics and Eric Tang. The core problem: video transcoding is extremely expensive — large streaming platforms spend hundreds of millions of dollars on AWS or Google Cloud transcoding. Livepeer solves this through a decentralised marketplace model.
Every video must be transcoded into various resolutions and bitrates for the web (1080p, 720p, 480p, etc.) — a computationally intensive process. AWS MediaConvert costs about 4.50 USD per hour of output video. Livepeer marketplace: GPU owners (Orchestrators) offer their computing power; streaming developers (Broadcasters) buy transcoding capacity; smart contracts manage matching and payment in LPT tokens. Result: 99.95% cost savings compared to centralised providers. Livepeer SDK enables easy integration into Web3 applications: developers can integrate transcoding services with just a few lines of code. Developer documentation is comprehensive and actively maintained (Engagement Analytics API). Binance Square and Hexn.io have extensively documented Livepeer as a leading decentralised video protocol. Livepeer is embedded in the Ethereum ecosystem and used by well-known Web3 projects.
Perspectives
B2B — organisations perspective
Streaming platforms and video startups can reduce their video transcoding costs by up to 99.95% with Livepeer — a decentralised network with Ethereum-secured payments and simple SDK integration.
B2C — consumers perspective
End customers indirectly benefit from better video quality and lower costs that streaming providers can achieve through Livepeer. The decentralised system can also lead to more stable availability of video content.
Employees perspective
Video technology staff need to become familiar with blockchain technology and decentralised protocols to use Livepeer effectively. At the same time, managing streaming infrastructure is simplified as many processes are automated via smart contracts.
Benefits
General
- The decentralised network reduces dependence on individual infrastructure providers and increases resilience.
- Token-based remuneration creates a transparent billing system for video transcoding services.
- The network's scalability grows organically with the number of participating nodes.
B2B — organisations
- Companies can significantly reduce their video streaming costs by using the decentralised network.
Employees
- Developers gain access to professional video infrastructure without having to build complex systems themselves.
Challenges
General
- Integration requires technical understanding of blockchain technology and smart contracts.
- Quality assurance in a decentralised network is more complex than with centralised providers.
B2B — organisations
- Companies need to adapt their existing systems for integration with blockchain-based services.
Employees
- Staff require training in blockchain technology and decentralised protocols.
Technology foundation
Livepeer is based on the Ethereum blockchain and uses smart contracts to coordinate the decentralized video transcoding network. Blockchain technology is particularly well suited here as it enables trustless coordination between node operators while automating token-based compensation for transcoding services.
Implementation examples
Livepeer network operation
The company wanted to reduce the high costs of traditional video streaming infrastructures while improving scalability. The decentralized architecture was intended to provide developers with cost-effective access to professional video transcoding technology.
Since 2017, Livepeer has operated a decentralized video transcoding network on the Ethereum blockchain.
The company has developed a functional decentralized protocol that provides video transcoding services via a network of distributed nodes. Since its founding by Doug Petkanics and Eric Tang, 150 million video minutes have been processed through the system. The network uses LPT tokens to compensate node operators and smart contracts to automate quality control and billing.
The solution addresses the high infrastructure costs for video streaming and the dependence on central providers. At the same time, scalability is improved through the growing network of distributed nodes.
Tags
Decentralised, Video Streaming, Transcoding, Ethereum, Smart Contract