In an age of rapidly growing technology, video streaming services are constantly seeking ways to improve user experience and maintain high-quality content. Prime Video, one of the major players in the industry, has recently undertaken a significant change in its infrastructure to enhance the quality of thousands of live streams available to its customers. In a move away from microservices, the company has adopted a monolithic architecture to reduce costs and increase scalability.

Previously, Prime Video’s video quality analysis system relied on microservices, with each component operating independently. While microservices offer several benefits, such as flexibility and ease of scaling, they also presented some limitations for Prime Video. The company discovered that the costs associated with managing and coordinating these microservices were quite high, and they hit a ceiling on how much they could scale up to monitor more streams.

To address these challenges, Prime Video decided to rearchitect its infrastructure. The company packed all the components, which were previously separate microservices, into a single process. This shift not only eliminated the need for extra storage but also made data transfer within the process memory more efficient.

The new monolithic system still comprises three main components: a media converter, defect detectors, and an organizer. The media converter processes video streams into images and audio that the detectors can analyze for problems, such as video freezing, block corruption, or audio/video synchronization issues. If a problem arises, the detectors send a real-time notification. The organizer controls the overall flow of the service.

By combining all components into a single process, Prime Video has achieved substantial cost savings and scalability improvements. The move to a monolithic architecture reduced the company’s infrastructure costs by over 90% and enabled them to handle thousands of streams with room for further growth.

This case study demonstrates that while microservices and serverless components can be useful for scaling, the decision to use them over a monolithic approach should be made on a case-by-case basis. Prime Video’s bold move to switch from microservices to a monolithic application has proven to be a game-changer, ultimately leading to a better customer experience and higher-quality streaming content.