[whatwg] Limiting the amount of downloaded but not watched video

[David Singer]

On Jan 23, 2011, at 21:40 , Glenn Maynard wrote:

> 
> The most important unresolved use case is: how to allow limiting the amount
> of prebuffered data, while also having a mechanism to disable that limit
> when there isn't enough bandwidth.  

The problem isn't so much the lack of bandwidth, as the common-ness of bandwidth variability.  Essentially, UAs buffer as much as possible "against a rainy day" -- in case that soon the bandwidth drops (or goes away completely).  As we have explored, this is clearly the place to be if you want the best user experience.  Users also like it because such a model allows them to buffer-and-wait for content that is coded at a rate above the average bandwidth they experience.

David Singer
Multimedia and Software Standards, Apple Inc.