A Performance Measurement Study of Open Internet Contribution Protocols

Metadata

Publisher: SMPTE
Doc Type: Journal Article
Content Type: Original Research
Abbreviated Title: SMPTE Motion Imaging Jour.
Volume: 135, No. 2, pp. 23–31
Abstract: Using the public internet for compressed, contribution-quality, real-time video transport has become commonplace for news, sports, and other real-time applications. Transport protocols are required to handle jitter and packet loss that can occur when using the internet. Some transport protocols are proprietary and closed, with no public information available about them. Other protocols have open specifications and offer open-source implementations. This paper presents a measured comparison between two open internet transport protocols: Reliable Internet Stream Transport (RIST) and Secure Reliable Transport (SRT). We used a network emulator to simulate impairments such as jitter, packet reordering, and loss, and compared the protocols using objective and subjective measures. As a reference, we also tested packet recovery using SMPTE ST 2022–1 Forward Error Correction (FEC), which was used for Internet contribution in prior decades before better protocols became available. The results show that both RIST and SRT perform well under low packet-loss scenarios, but RIST clearly outperforms SRT under challenging network conditions, such as those encountered with wireless IP links.
Publication Date: 2026-04-01
DOI: 10.5594/JMI.2026/YEXQ9772
ISSN: Print: 1545-0279 | Electronic: 2160-2492
Link: https://doi.org/10.5594/JMI.2026/YEXQ9772
Author(s): Ciro A. Noronha
Adi Rozenberg
Wes Simpson
Keyword(s): RIST, SRT, Protocol Performance Measurement, Network Emulation
Copyright: © 2026 SMPTE

Bibliographic Reference(s)

Video Services Forum (VSF), TR-06–1:2020, “Reliable Internet Stream Transport - Simple Profile,” Jun. 2020. [Online]. Available: https://static.vsf.tv/download/technical_recommendations/VSF_TR-06-1_2020_06_25.pdf. EXTERNAL
Video Services Forum (VSF), TR-06–2:2024, “Reliable Internet Stream Transport - Main Profile,” Jun. 2024. [Online]. Available: https://static.vsf.tv/download/technical_recommendations/VSF_TR-06-2_2024_06_12.pdf. EXTERNAL
C. Noronha, “A Performance Measurement Study of the Reliable Internet Stream Transport Protocol,” Proc. 2019 NAB Broadcast Engineering and Information Technology Conference, Apr. 2019. EXTERNAL
C. Noronha and J. Noronha, “A Study of Protocols for Low-Latency Video Transport over the Internet,” Proc. 2078 NAB BEITC Conf., Apr. 2018. EXTERNAL
Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF), Internet Draft (expired), “UDT: UDP-based Data Transfer Protocol.” [Online]. Available: https://datatracker.ietf.org/doc/html/draft-gg-udt-03. EXTERNAL
M. Sharabayko, “Improving SRT Retransmissions - Experiments with Simulated Live Streaming,” Mar. 2022. [Online]. Available: https://medium.com/innovation-labs-blog/improving-srt-retransmissions-experiments-with-simulated-live-streaming-part-1-7d192483bba4. EXTERNAL
Video Services Forum (VSF), TR-06-3:2024, “Reliable Internet Stream Transport - Advanced Profile,” Jun. 2024. [Online]. Available: https://static.vsf.tv/download/technical_recommendations/VSF_TR-06-3_2024_06_12.pdf. EXTERNAL
M. Devera, “Hierarchical Token Bucket Theory.” [Online]. Available: http://luxik.cdi.cz/-devik/qos/htb/manual/theory.htm. EXTERNAL
Linux Foundation, “tc-netem(8) - Linux Manual Page,” [Online]. Available: https://man7.org/linux/man-pages/man8/tc-netem.8.html. EXTERNAL
Video Services Forum (VSF), TR-06-4 Part 1, “RIST Source Adaptation,” Nov. 2022. [Online]. Available: https://static.vsf.tv/download/technical_recommendations/VSF_TR-06-4-Part-1_2022-11-01.pdf. EXTERNAL
T. Sonono, “Interoperable Retransmission Protocols with Low Latency and Constrained Delay–A Performance Evaluation of RIST and SRT,” Master's Thesis, KTH Royal Institute of Technology, Sweden, 2019. EXTERNAL
M. Wånggren and L. Thyresson, “Live Cloud Ingest Using Open Alternatives RIST & SRT,” presented at the SMPTE 2019 Ann. Tech. Conf., Los Angeles, CA, Oct. 2019. EXTERNAL
IETF RFC 3550 [Active*]
SMPTE ST 2022-1:2007 [Active]

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Ciro A. Noronha, Adi Rozenberg, and Wes Simpson; A Performance Measurement Study of Open Internet Contribution Protocols, MIJ 2026, Volume 135, Number 2 (pp. 23 to 31); SMPTE, 2026. Available at https://doi.org/10.5594/JMI.2026/YEXQ9772

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Ciro A. Noronha, Adi Rozenberg, and Wes Simpson; A Performance Measurement Study of Open Internet Contribution Protocols, MIJ 2026, Volume 135, Number 2 (pp. 23 to 31); SMPTE, 2026. Available at https://doi.org/10.5594/JMI.2026/YEXQ9772

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<span class="citation">Ciro A. Noronha, Adi Rozenberg, and Wes Simpson; <cite>A Performance Measurement Study of Open Internet Contribution Protocols</cite>, MIJ 2026, Volume 135, Number 2 (pp. 23 to 31); SMPTE, 2026. Available at <a href="https://doi.org/10.5594/JMI.2026/YEXQ9772" target="_blank" rel="noopener">https://doi.org/10.5594/JMI.2026/YEXQ9772</a></span>

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Ciro A. Noronha, Adi Rozenberg, and Wes Simpson; A Performance Measurement Study of Open Internet Contribution Protocols, MIJ 2026, Volume 135, Number 2 (pp. 23 to 31); SMPTE, 2026
doi: 10.5594/JMI.2026/YEXQ9772
url: https://doi.org/10.5594/JMI.2026/YEXQ9772

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<li>
Ciro A. Noronha, Adi Rozenberg, and Wes Simpson; <cite id="bib-10-5594-jmi-2026-yexq9772">A Performance Measurement Study of Open Internet Contribution Protocols</cite>, MIJ 2026, Volume 135, Number 2 (pp. 23 to 31); SMPTE, 2026
<span class="doi">10.5594/JMI.2026/YEXQ9772</span>
</li>