Dolby Acquires Low-Latency Streaming Platform Millicast
Dolby Laboratories, Inc, best-known for its Dolby Atmos audio and Dolby Vision high dynamic range (HDR) video processing, today announced the acquisition of Millicast, a developer platform that provides Web-RTC-based ultra-low-latency video streaming capabilities that scale to massive audiences.
Along with its 2018 acquisition of Hybrik and its 2021 acquisition of RealEyes, this gives Dolby a robust Dolby.io offering to complement its core license-based business. Jan Ozer will be writing a follow-up article digging deeper into Dolby.io soon.
Millicast enables developers to take the highly interactive events they build with Dolby.io, from conferences to music concerts, and stream them from the presenter to audiences of more than 60,000 people with delays of less than 500 milliseconds. Millicast will also bolster Dolby.io WebRTC engineering expertise with a highly-skilled team that has developed standards such as WHIP, which enable WebRTC interoperability.
"There is a growing demand to make online events as lifelike and compelling as being there in person," said Marie Huwe, SVP, Dolby.io. "We are thrilled to welcome the Millicast team to Dolby. Together, we expand the Dolby.io platform to make it even easier for developers and businesses to stream real-time content and immersive, interactive experiences that look and sound incredible."
"Dolby and Millicast share a passion for enabling the future of lightning-fast, crystal-clear content streamed to thousands of participants," said Alexandrine Platonoff, CEO, Millicast. "Together, we have the opportunity to bring ultra-low latency to a global customer base and empower them to build virtualized, massive audience experiences that feel almost as if you were there. We're excited to become a part of Dolby and can't wait to see what we build together."
The vision for Dolby.io is to help developers and businesses achieve stellar audiovisual content and interactive social communications in their applications and services. A vital piece of that vision is the ability to scale quality to the demands of high-volume streaming for virtual events. Dolby has recently made several platform improvements to Dolby.io to support significantly more participants for audio and video, or audio-only. The acquisition of Millicast now brings consistent, field-tested ultra-low-latency so that audiences – small or large – can receive high-quality, interactive experiences.
Developers can try this out immediately, with sample code, at this link. You can sign up for a free Dolby.io account at http://dolby.io/
[Editor's note: This is a lightly edited press release.]
Related Articles
The pandemic highlighted the need for ultra-low-latency video. Here's a look at how the industry has responded, from LL-HLS and DASH to WebRTC
26 Mar 2022
Dolby Laboratories has plans to build up its media processing business, and believes an acquisition of Hybrik will help it get there.
26 Sep 2018
Netflix shares its secrets for encoding Dolby Vision and HDR10, as well as the technical requirements for shooting and editing Netflix video titles
19 Jun 2017
Over the course of this three-part tutorial series, we'll show you how to deliver Dolby Audio via HLS and play it back on any audio endpoint, including device speakers, headphones, or external sound systems via AirPlay or HDMI.
15 Feb 2017