Ookla, the company behind the Speedtest platform on Monday announced that its users can now “measure the quality” of their streaming experience. The company said that the “ability to directly measure video experience is an important tool for network management” as “most” users spend much of their “online time consuming” one video or another. Speedtest, the platform that enables users to “test the speed and performance” of their internet connection is said to have performed over 30 billion tests since 2006. However, the company said that a “video can perform very differently” as compared to other things done online by the user.
Speedtest Users Can Now Measure Streaming Experience
According to the company, the video test feature is said to be available to users on the Speedtest app for iOS with the feature said to be soon arriving on “more platforms.”
“While network speed certainly impacts your video experience, providers routinely prioritize video traffic differently than other traffic,” Ookla said in a release on Monday.
The company said that the video testing feature on the Speedtest app “plays an actual video to specifically measure the performance of video streaming” on the user’s network at any point of time.
“An accurate video measurement requires an actual video to be played, because video traffic cannot be simulated across a network,” Ookla said.
Video Testing Aids Users to Pick “Good Time” to Watch Videos
The company said that the video content available for streaming are “typically delivered” through “adaptive bitrate technology” that is said to adjust the video quality on network conditions.
“A video test measures this adaptive bitrate to tell you the maximum resolution, load time and buffer you should be able to expect given current network conditions,” Ookla said.
The interest testing, data and analysis company said that the video test feature will let users know the devices that “work best” at that particular instant of time.
“It’s a great way to assess whether now is a good time to settle in for that video you’ve been waiting for or if you’ll be stuck buffering for the duration,” Ookla said. “This can help you decide whether to try to stream on your largest TV or if you should use your phone instead.”
