What is Livepeer?

The beginner’s guide to the world’s open video infrastructure.

In this article we want to explain in simple words what Livepeer is. Just in case you are not aware, Livepeer is a decentralized video infrastructure network for live and on-demand streaming.

Imagine you’re watching a live concert or a sports game online. The video stream has to be sent from the source (like a camera) to all the people watching. This can be really expensive and difficult for a single company to manage, especially if there are a lot of viewers.

Livepeer makes this process easier and cheaper by using a network of computers all around the world. These computers help to distribute the video stream efficiently to viewers. It’s like having lots of helpers who each carry a small piece of the video to share it with everyone who wants to watch.

If you want to know more about Livepeer, you can watch this 10-minute primer:

Recently, Livepeer also began moving into the AI world, leveraging its powerful network of computers distributed across the globe to perform complex computations. So, we can say that Livepeer is essentially a distributed network of computers capable of performing video transcoding and elaborate complex AI tasks. Livepeer is currently beta testing an AI meme generator, and you can experience it firsthand and share your feedback by visiting Tsunameme.ai.

For example, generative AI is capable of creating images or videos given a specific prompt, like this:

Livepeer is a decentralized network of computers (named Orchestrators), meaning there’s no single company or server controlling everything. Livepeer’s network relies on the power of many different computers, making it more resilient and harder to shut down. Plus, because it’s decentralized, it can often be cheaper than traditional streaming services.

So, in simple terms, Livepeer is similar to a distributed team of workers across the globe, helping share a video stream with many people all over the internet. This makes it easier and cheaper to watch live videos online. Additionaly, anyone with the technical knowledge can become a node operator, or an Orchestrator, in the Livepeer network: this is called a permissionless network. This means you do not need to ask permission to become part of the Livepeer network.

The Livepeer Token (LPT) was created as an incentive system for participants using the Livepeer protocol to distribute video content and provide security on the network. In the Livepeer ecosystem, new LPT tokens are minted in cycles known as “Rounds.” One Round is the equivalent of 5,760 Ethereum blocks. In other words, one round is equal to one day. Orchestrators and Delegators are two network participants that earn LPT tokens in exchange of their work. So, while Orchestrators are actually node operators who run the servers for Livepeer network, what is a Delegator?

Delegating your tokens is a synonym for staking. Staking is a way to put your crypto to work and earn rewards on it.

Staking cryptocurrencies is a process that involves committing your crypto assets to support a blockchain network and confirm transactions. It’s available with cryptocurrencies that use the proof-of-stake model to process payments. In a nutshell staking is a way of earning rewards for holding certain cryptocurrencies. (“What Is Staking in Crypto? | The Motley Fool”)

So, a Delegator is a person that stakes his/her LPT tokens in the Livepeer network and in exchange earns a passive interest, up to 42% APY … and no, that’s not a typo! 😀

In our next article we will explain how to become a Delegator in an easy-to-follow tutorial. Stay tuned!