Introduction

With the release of iPhone OS 3.0, Apple allowed live audio/video streaming to the iPhone, iPod Touch and iPad using a new protocol they called HTTP Live Streaming.  Streaming can be done using an custom developed app or through the Safari browser and built-in media player.  The great advantage of HTTP Live Streaming over RTSP streaming to mobile phones is that it can be hosted using an ordinary web server and easily delivered through firewalls to any phone that has internet access.

If you are developing an app you will of course need to get it through the approval process with Apple and to do that you will need to encode your streams in a way that complies with Apples rules.

Apple Recommendations

The iPod Touch and all iPhone versions have a screen resolution of 480 x 320 pixels, the aspect ratio is 3:2.  The screen resolution of the iPod is 1024 x 768.  The iPhone and iPod Touch can decode H.264 video at up to 640 x 480, while the iPad can decode H.264 up to 720p.