Design a YouTube/Netflix video platform
Quick Overview
This question evaluates a candidate's understanding of distributed systems architecture, media processing and delivery concepts including upload resiliency, transcoding into multiple bitrates, scalable storage and low-latency streaming.
Meta
Feb 25, 2026, 12:00 AM
Software Engineer
Onsite
System Design
1
0
Design a video platform similar to YouTube/Netflix.
Requirements:
- Upload videos (for YouTube-like) and/or ingest catalog (for Netflix-like).
- Transcode into multiple bitrates/resolutions.
- Stream videos reliably at scale with low startup latency.
- Support resumable uploads and playback progress.
Out of scope: recommendations, ads, DRM deep details.
Solution
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