HLS vs. DASH: Which Streaming Protocol is Better?

Leia 18/09/2025

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In the 1990s, online streaming platforms began offering a variety of film and television services. Nowadays, live streaming has gradually become an important way for people to entertain themselves in their daily lives. Whether we are watching streaming videos online or watching live broadcasts, this requires the help of video streaming protocols. Different devices are suited to different video streaming protocols; for example, Apple devices are more suited to the HLS video streaming protocol. Understanding the most popular HLS and DASH video streaming protocols can help you choose the right one for your device. Furthermore, this can help you reduce latency when watching videos online. So, what is HLS? What is DASH? What are their characteristics and differences? Don't worry, this tutorial will tell you all the answers.

Overview of Each Protocol

What does HLS mean? HLS is the abbreviation of HTTP Live Streaming, which refers to the HTTP real-time streaming protocol. HLS is an HTTP-based streaming media network transmission protocol developed by Apple. It is mainly used to implement real-time or on-demand audio and video streaming playback on the Internet. HLS can encode audio and video content and split it into a series of short TS format media segments. It then generates an M3U8 index file containing the URLs of these segments. When playing these TS-formatted media segments, we can follow the instructions in this M3U8 index file to play them sequentially. This allows for a better video viewing experience with less demanding network conditions.

DASH actually refers to Dynamic Adaptive Streaming over HTTP. It's an adaptive streaming protocol developed by MPEG, the international standards organization. Similar to HLS, DASH can encode audio and video content and split it into multiple media segments with different bit rates and resolutions. DASH then generates an MPD manifest file describing these segments. This MPD file can be retrieved via HTTP. Based on current network conditions and device capabilities, the most appropriate media segment can be dynamically selected and downloaded for playback, achieving a smooth, adaptive streaming experience.

Key Differences Between HLS and DASH

Below, I will use a table to show the key differences between HLS and DASH.

Industry Adoption and Use Cases

You can learn about the industry adoption and use cases of HLS and DASH through the following points

1. Device Compatibility

Currently, iOS and macOS devices support HLS by default. Therefore, Apple devices can achieve optimal performance with the HLS protocol. Of course, most Android devices also support the HLS protocol.

DASH demonstrates good compatibility with a wide range of devices, including Android, Windows, and smart TVs. Therefore, DASH is a popular choice for many devices.

2. On-Demand and Live Streaming

With support from Apple devices, the HLS protocol efficiently delivers on-demand video to users. Therefore, HLS is suitable for delivering on-demand content such as movies and TV shows. However, HLS can incur higher latency when delivering live content.

DASH is suitable for low-latency scenarios. Furthermore, DASH has low network requirements. Even in poor network conditions, DASH can still efficiently transmit data. Therefore, DASH is suitable for delivering live content such as sports events and live news broadcasts.

3. Content Protection and DRM

HLS can generate M3U8 links to index source videos. Therefore, we can easily download unprotected M3U8 videos and convert M3U8 videos to MP4. Furthermore, HLS supports Apple's FairPlay DRM, effectively protecting videos.

DASH generates MPD files to index the source files. DASH primarily uses CENC to provide DRM protection for the source videos. If you want to download DRM-protected MPD videos, you may need a professional video downloader.

Pros and cons

Through the following table, let's take a look at the pros and cons of HLS and DASH.

Challenges and Limitations

Regarding the challenges and limitations of HLS and DASH, you can understand them through the following points:

1. Cost

Because HLS primarily transmits content for Apple devices, HLS incurs lower operational costs. However, DASH has a wider range of applications and uses a wider variety of encoders. Therefore, DASH incurs higher operational costs. Future considerations are needed to reduce the cost of using DASH.

2. DRM Protection

HLS primarily uses Apple's FairPlay DRM protection technology. While HLS effectively protects video content, its scope of application is relatively narrow and not widely adopted.

DASH can protect video content using various DRM technologies. However, this requires DASH to integrate these DRM technologies, which is technically demanding and difficult to implement.

3. Implementation Requirements

HLS is primarily implemented on Apple devices. Therefore, HLS has a large developer community, making implementation easier.

DASH is compatible with a wide range of encoders and devices, offering greater flexibility. However, this also makes implementation more complex.

Tip: How to Download MPEG-DASH and HLS Streams

It's important to note that most video streaming services currently use the HLS or DASH protocols. For various reasons, people want to download videos from online streaming services for offline viewing. Therefore, if you want to download M3U8 videos using the HLS protocol or MPD videos using the DASH protocol, you'll need a dedicated downloader.

If you want to download M3U8 videos, I recommend using CleverGet M3U8 Downloader. CleverGet M3U8 Downloader can easily decrypt HLS-encrypted M3U8 videos. Then, according to your instructions, CleverGet M3U8 Downloader downloads the M3U8 videos as MP4 or MKV videos with up to 1080p quality. Furthermore, during the download process, CleverGet M3U8 Downloader removes all commercials, providing an ad-free offline viewing experience.

If you want to download MPD videos, I recommend using CleverGet MPD Downloader. CleverGet MPD Downloader can batch download movies and TV series from MPEG-DASH streaming websites. Furthermore, CleverGet MPD Downloader can losslessly save these movies and TV shows as 1080p MKV or MP4 videos. Furthermore, when multiple subtitles and audio tracks are available in an online MPD video, CleverGet MPD Downloader can detect and list all of them for you to select and download.

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  CleverGet MPD Downloader is a DRM MPEG-DASH MPD downloader to download DRM protected videos from MPEG-DASH streaming services for unlimited offline viewing.

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In short, with the help of CleverGet M3U8 Downloader and CleverGet MPD Downloader, you can easily download MPEG-DASH and HLS.

Conclusion

This tutorial provides a detailed introduction to DASH vs. HLS. I believe that after reading this tutorial, you now have a clear understanding of the two. Additionally, you can use specific video downloaders to download videos from streaming services that use different streaming protocols. If you want to download online videos by using the HLS protocol, you can use CleverGet M3U8 Downloader. If you want to download online videos by using the DASH protocol, you can use CleverGet MPD Downloader.