Netflix is one of the biggest users of broadband Internet traffic in the US. A recent report said that Netflix accounts for over 32 percent of the peak downstream traffic in this country. Users who have restricted broadband caps on their ISPs that subscribe to Netflix have to be careful not to go over their cap limits.
Now a newly revealed company called eyeIO has announced that Netflix is using its technology to reduce the amount of bandwidth needed for Netflix's customers to stream HD video files from the service. An article at GigaOM states that eyeIO has been operating in stealth mode since 2010 and Netflix is its first customer.
The article states that normally Netflix delivers 720p HD videos with a downstream speed of 3.8 Mbps. eyeIO's technology optimizes the encoding process so that the same 720p video can be accessed by customers with a downstream speed of just 1.8 Mbps.
Such broadband savings is good for Netflix, who doesn't have to support such a high bandwidth rate, as well as consumers who want to stream Netflix but also don't want to run into any data caps on their home network or their portable device.
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