Katkat

Design a YouTube/Netflix video platform

MetaSoftware Engineer · Onsite

Last updated

This question evaluates a candidate's understanding of distributed systems architecture, media processing and delivery concepts including upload resiliency, transcoding into multiple bitrates, scalable storage and low-latency streaming.

Design a video platform similar to YouTube/Netflix.

Requirements:

  • Upload videos (for YouTube-like) and/or ingest catalog (for Netflix-like).
  • Transcode into multiple bitrates/resolutions.
  • Stream videos reliably at scale with low startup latency.
  • Support resumable uploads and playback progress.

Out of scope: recommendations, ads, DRM deep details.