Webcasting Glossary
Comprehensive terminology reference for webcasting professionals covering technical concepts, industry terms, and streaming vocabulary.
Understanding Webcasting Terminology
The IWA Glossary provides authoritative definitions for webcasting terminology. Terms are aligned with usage in IWA standards and educational materials. The glossary supports both professionals refining their vocabulary and newcomers learning industry language.
Sample Terms
Adaptive Bitrate Streaming (ABR)
Technique that adjusts video quality in real-time based on viewer network and device capability. Multiple quality versions are encoded and the player automatically switches between them. See encoding formats for ABR ladder specifications.
Content Delivery Network (CDN)
Distributed network of servers that cache and deliver streaming content from locations geographically close to viewers. CDNs reduce latency and improve reliability. See delivery networks for CDN specifications.
Glass-to-Glass Latency
Total delay from when an event occurs in front of the camera to when it appears on viewer screens. Includes capture, encoding, delivery, and playback buffering. See latency standards for target measurements.
HLS (HTTP Live Streaming)
Apple-developed streaming protocol delivering video in short segments over HTTP. Widely supported across devices and platforms. See streaming protocols for implementation specifications.
Origin Server
Server that packages encoded video into streaming formats and serves as the source for CDN distribution. May perform just-in-time packaging for multi-format delivery.
Full Glossary Access
The complete glossary with 200+ terms is available to IWA members. Terms are searchable, cross-referenced, and continuously updated as technology evolves.