NETFLIX

1. Netflix Case Study: Using AWS
How Netflix leverages AWS for global
streaming success

2. Streaming Options Before Netflix
• 1. YouTube (2005): Platform for user-generated content; short-form
videos.
• 2. RealPlayer / RealNetworks (1990s): Early media streaming software.
• 3. Windows Media Player & QuickTime: Supported small-scale media
streaming.
• 4. Hulu (2007): Ad-supported streaming of TV shows (U.S. only).
• 5. Apple iTunes: Purchase and download TV shows/movies (not true
streaming).
• 6. Amazon Unbox / VOD (2006–2008): Early Amazon video-on-
demand.
• 7. Slingbox (2005): Hardware for streaming home TV over the internet.
• 8. Joost (2007): Legal streaming startup; shut down due to poor UX.

3. 1. Introduction to Netflix
• Founded: 1997, DVD rental to global streaming
• 230+ million subscribers (2024)
• Challenge: Deliver seamless content globally, on-
demand, across devices

4. 2. Why Netflix Chose AWS
• Scalability for peak traffic
• Global infrastructure (low latency)
• High availability and resilience
• Focus on content innovation over
infrastructure

5. 3. Core AWS Services Used
• Amazon EC2 - compute backend
• Amazon S3 - scalable video storage
• CloudFront - fast global CDN
• RDS & DynamoDB - databases
• Lambda - serverless tasks
• VPC - secure networking

6. Services Used

7. 4. AWS & Netflix Operations
• Streaming via S3 + CloudFront
• Personalization using AWS ML
• Auto-scaling EC2 services
• Multi-region disaster recovery
• Global content delivery

8. How is the Video streamed by Netflix using
AWS
• Netflix uses Open Connect, its own Content Delivery Network
(CDN), to deliver videos, hosted within ISPs' data centers and
managed via Amazon Web Services (AWS).
• When a user hits ‘play’, the actual streaming happens through
Open Connect. However, supporting functions like search,
signup, personalization, business logic, and data processing
are handled entirely in the AWS cloud.
• To ensure reliability and minimize disruptions, Netflix
developed Chaos Monkey, a tool that simulates failures to test
system resilience.
• Netflix also uses Cassandra, a distributed database, to store
user data with dynamic replication.
• All primary data backups are securely stored in Amazon S3.

9. 5. Benefits Gained
• Global reach and low-latency delivery
• Rapid deployment and innovation
• Cost savings via pay-as-you-go
• Increased focus on user experience
• High security and compliance

11. 6. Netflix Scale on AWS
• 100% cloud-based since 2016
• Petabytes streamed daily
• Billions of API requests/day
• Thousands of microservices in production

12. 7. Lessons & Best Practices
• Chaos Engineering with Chaos Monkey
• Advanced observability and monitoring
• Microservices for modular architecture

13. Links
• Benefits of the Cloud | Netflix & AWS Real Wo
rld Example
• (3) Case study of Netflix using AWS Cloud | Lin
kedIn

14. 8. Conclusion
• Netflix + AWS = Cloud-native success
• High performance, resilience, and scalability
• Industry leader in cloud streaming
infrastructure