The streaming industry is on the brink of a major transformation. At a recent webinar, industry experts Will Law from Akamai and Oliver Lietz from nanocosmos explored how Media over QUIC (MoQ) and WebTransport are poised to solve one of streaming’s most persistent challenges: latency. The event was hosted by the StreamingMedia Connect 2025 Conference and moderated by industry veteran Tim Siglin.
Webinar Summary
- The Current Protocol Landscape
- Understanding QUIC and WebTransport
- Media over QUIC: The Game Changer
- Real-World Implementation Challenges
- The Complete Streaming Workflow
- Impressive Performance Results
- Use Cases Beyond Live Streaming
- Security and Business Considerations
- How nanocosmos Is Leading MoQ Implementation
The Current Protocol Landscape
Today’s internet media delivery for web pages or video relies on four primary standards or protocols:
- HTTP/1 & HTTP/2 with TLS over TCP
- HTTP/3 with QUIC transport
- WebSockets for real-time communication
- WebRTC for peer-to-peer applications
Any media delivery like audio/video files or live streams is using any of these underlying standards. Most streaming applications are based on HLS or DASH for example using HTTP/1, and not HTTP/3. WebRTC is a complete stack covering a lot details and excels at real-time communication, but it comes with significant limitations for broadcast streaming. As Law explained, “WebRTC is a beautifully complicated stack” with approximately 20 referenced standards, making it difficult to customize and optimize for large-scale streaming scenarios.
Understanding QUIC and WebTransport
QUIC represents an evolution in internet protocols for transfering any kind of data, moving from TCP’s “good neighbor policy” to UDP-based transport that offers:
- Parallel streams of data
- Reduced head-of-line blocking
- Better performance over unreliable networks
WebTransport builds on QUIC, providing a thin HTTP/3 layer for browser based applications and session establishment before leveraging QUIC’s streams and datagrams. Think of it as “an empty pipe” that developers can use to build custom protocols.
Media over QUIC: The Game Changer
Media over QUIC (MoQ) enables media delivery (audio/video) over QUIC.
Key Advantages of MoQ:
1. Flexible Latency Control Unlike WebRTC’s “latency-first” approach that sacrifices quality for speed, MoQ provides granular control. As Law demonstrated, you can achieve:
- Ultra-low latency: 300 milliseconds (RTT + encode/decode delay)
- Configurable buffering for different use cases
- Quality vs. latency trade-offs based on specific needs
2. Scalable Caching MoQ supports caching at multiple levels, allowing subscribers to choose their position relative to the live edge. Someone wanting optimal quality can subscribe 15 seconds behind the live edge, while real-time participants stay at the cutting edge.
3. Advanced Prioritization Publishers can define priority levels for different tracks and quality layers, ensuring that during network congestion, the most important data is delivered first rather than random packet dropping.
4. Bidirectional Analytics One of MoQ’s most innovative features is its bidirectional nature. Players can publish Quality of Experience (QoE) statistics back through the same distribution network, eliminating the need for separate analytics collection infrastructure.
Media over QUIC Transport (MoQT – mind the “T”) additionally introduces a standardized publish-subscribe (pub-sub) protocol specifically designed for media delivery. Unlike traditional request-response mechanisms, MoQT allows clients to subscribe to “tracks” – linear flows of data that can represent video, audio, captions, or chat.
Real-World Implementation Challenges
Browser Support and Fallbacks
Currently, browser support for WebTransport varies, with Safari on iOS notably lacking support.
This requires implementing intelligent fallback mechanisms:
- Primary: WebTransport over QUIC
- Fallback: HTTP/1, HTTP/2 or WebSocket transport
- Automatic protocol selection based on browser capabilities and network conditions
- Application support for auto-failover (like in Video Players to adjust to available formats)
Network Infrastructure
Some networks still block UDP traffic, requiring fallback modes. However, as HTTP/3 adoption grows (already handling significant web traffic), firewall support for QUIC-based protocols is improving.
The Complete Streaming Workflow
The panel emphasized the importance of end-to-end optimization, outlining the complete workflow:
- Ingestion: RTMP, SRT, or WebRTC (WHIP) for browser-based publishing
- CDN Distribution: Upgrading middle-mile transport to QUIC/WebTransport
- Last Mile Delivery: Browser-compatible WebTransport or fallback protocols
- Analytics: Real-time QoE data collection through bidirectional MoQ connections
Impressive Performance Results
Law’s live demonstration showed the technology’s potential, achieving:
- 667 milliseconds end-to-end latency from Zurich to Los Angeles and back
- 149 milliseconds pure network RTT
- 400 milliseconds player buffer
- 1080p at 30fps, 5 Mbps – typical sports broadcast quality
This performance makes MoQ suitable for demanding applications like live sports, interactive gaming, and real-time auctions.
Use Cases Beyond Live Streaming
MoQ isn’t limited to live content. The protocol supports:
- VOD Content: Using the “fetch” method to retrieve past objects
- Live Ad Insertion: Mixing live tracks with pre-recorded advertisements
- DVR Functionality: Allowing viewers to jump back in live streams
- Multi-bitrate Switching: Intelligent quality adaptation based on network conditions
Security and Business Considerations
Security Features:
- First-class tokenization support
- Geographic and time-based access controls
- Integration with existing web security infrastructure
- Protection against DoS attacks through proper QUIC implementation
Business Impact:
- No Royalties: Developed under IETF’s open IP policy
- Future-Proof: Designed as a 20-year foundation for streaming innovation
- Cost Considerations: Currently more CPU-intensive than HTTP/2, but hardware offloading expected within 1-2 years
Practical Considerations: Bridging Theory and Implementation
While MoQ offers tremendous potential, implementing it successfully requires addressing real-world challenges that businesses face when integrating new streaming technologies into their existing web applications and workflows.
Seamless Web Integration Challenges:
During the panel discussion, Oliver Lietz emphasized the critical need for seamless integration into web applications. The reality is that most businesses can’t afford streaming disruptions or complex technical migrations. They need solutions that work within their current infrastructure while providing immediate benefits.
Key practical considerations include:
- Easy Migration: Adopt MoQ benefits without disrupting existing operations
- Browser Compatibility: Ensuring consistent performance across all devices and browsers
- Existing Workflow Integration: Maintaining compatibility with current encoding, CDN, and analytics systems
- Developer Experience: Providing simple APIs and SDKs that don’t require deep streaming protocol expertise
- Fallback Reliability: Automatic protocol switching and failover when MoQ isn’t supported or available
How nanocosmos Is Leading MoQ Implementation
At nanocosmos, we’re not just watching this technology evolve—we’re actively implementing it to deliver on our vision:
“Real-Time Video That Simply Works.”
Our approach to MoQ integration reflects our commitment to making cutting-edge technology accessible for business-critical applications, in an easy to use way.
Our Comprehensive MoQ Strategy:
We’ve integrated MoQ throughout our entire nanoStream platform, from CDN-level origin-edge distribution to last-mile delivery to playback devices. This end-to-end approach ensures that businesses can leverage MoQ’s benefits without needing to understand the underlying complexity. Our platform automatically handles protocol selection, fallback mechanisms, and optimization based on network conditions. And the good thing is, existing workflows do not need any change, a simple player update does it!
Making Innovation Accessible:
Since 1998, nanocosmos has been driving innovations in real-time video, and MoQ represents the next evolution of this journey. We’re embracing emerging standards like Media Over QUIC, WebTransport, and WebCodecs, making them easily accessible for global business customers. Our clients don’t need to worry about video coding and streaming protocol details—they can focus on their core business while we handle the technical complexities.
Industry Leadership:
nanocosmos CEO Oliver Lietz will present “How to integrate MoQ into a comprehensive real-time video platform” at the Fraunhofer FOKUS Media Web Symposium in Berlin, June 24-25, 2025, sharing practical insights from our real-world MoQ implementations and demonstrating how businesses can leverage this technology today.
Ready to Experience MoQ Technology Today?
While the industry continues to develop and standardize Media over QUIC, nanocosmos is already offering early access to our MoQ-powered nanoStream platform for select partners and customers. If you’re ready to experience sub-second latency and next-generation real-time streaming capabilities for your business-critical applications, you can request early access to our MoQ implementation at nanocosmos.net/moq-early-access. Join forward-thinking organizations who are already leveraging this groundbreaking technology to transform their real-time video experiences.
