VK Video Doubles Playback Start Speed With Its Own Compression Preset

VK Video has developed its own compression preset, a set of video encoding settings that shrinks files by 20% without a loss of image quality. According to the company, this and other technical improvements have made videos start twice as fast on the web version, on mobile devices and on tablets.

VK says the settings written by its engineers account for the specifics of content on the platform better than standard presets do. Smaller files mean less data to load before playback begins, which is why the change shows up as faster start-up for viewers.

Adapting to server load

At first, the new settings were applied only to popular videos. After the update, they adjust automatically to the load on the service. When load is low, every uploaded file is processed with the new preset.

During traffic spikes, videos are split between the new and the previous settings. The company says this is done so that publication of new videos is not delayed.

Why it matters

For viewers, a quicker start and lighter files mean less waiting, especially on mobile connections. For the platform, a 20% reduction in video size lowers the volume of data it has to store and deliver, though the company did not provide figures on infrastructure savings.

VK did not say whether the preset will be extended to further formats or whether it will be made available outside the platform.