Adaptive Bitrate Streaming 2D: Buffer & Ladder Simulator

Mobile Network Profile

Base bandwidth 2.0 Mbps

ABR Algorithm

Live Stats

Buffer level

8.0 s

Current quality

480p

Throughput now

2.00 Mbps

Avg. delivered

0.00 Mbps

Rebuffer stalls

Stall time

0.0 s

How it works

A mobile lecture player downloads video in fixed-length segments (here 4s each) and keeps a short queue of them — the playback buffer B, measured in seconds of video already downloaded but not yet shown. Every time the buffer has room, the ABR (Adaptive BitRate) algorithm must pick which quality rung of the ladder to fetch next:

Download time:  t_dl = (bitrate_r · segment_s) / throughput(t)
Buffer update:  B += segment_s          (on download finish)
                B -= dt                 (while playing)
Rebuffer stall: triggers when B ≤ 0, playback pauses
                until B ≥ 1 segment, then resumes

Buffer-based (BBA-0) — the algorithm Netflix popularized. It ignores throughput estimates entirely and reacts only to how much video is already buffered, using a reservoir/cushion map:

R(B) = R_min                       if B ≤ B_reservoir
R(B) = R_max                       if B ≥ B_cushion
R(B) = lerp(R_min..R_max,
       (B−B_reservoir)/(B_cushion−B_reservoir))   otherwise

Throughput-based — the older heuristic: smooth measured throughput with an EWMA and request the highest rung that stays under a safety margin of the estimate:

thr_est = 0.85·thr_est + 0.15·thr_measured
choose highest rung r with bitrate_r ≤ 0.85 · thr_est

Switch profile and algorithm to see the trade-off: buffer-based adaptation reacts slower to a sudden drop but rarely stalls once the buffer has filled; throughput-based adaptation chases quality more aggressively and stalls more often on a fluctuating or degrading connection — the exact reason most EdTech apps (Coursera, Khan Academy, Udemy) default to buffer-aware players for lecture video.

This 2D view is the same buffer/network model as the 3D version of this sim, redrawn as a flat side-on diagram: the segment stack, download stream and quality staircase are 2D canvas shapes instead of 3D meshes — drag to pan, scroll/pinch to zoom.

drag to pan · scroll to zoom

⚠ Rebuffering…

240p 480p 720p 1080p