Experiencing faster video uploads on Facebook with Smart Video Engine

To keep up with the cat video needs of it’s users, Facebook silently put their Smart Video Engine in action behind the scenes. The videos are processed faster once uploaded, in contrast to the occasional choke in the system during while the video.

The Smart Video Engine sits in the background and processes videos from Facebook, Messenger and even Instagram. (Facebook)

If you've noticed, Facebook uploads and processes videos ten times faster than it did a year ago. The company has been able to pull it off even though the video traffic Facebook serves has gone up from 1-8 billion videos viewed per day by building a tool specially for that purpose.

To keep up with the cat video needs of it's users, Facebook silently put their Smart Video Engine in action behind the scenes. The videos are processed faster once uploaded, in contrast to the occasional choke in the system during while the video. The Smart Video Engine uses the simple principle of divide and conquer to speed things up. When a video is uploaded, the engine divides it into multiple clips that are processed simultaneously. The engine sits in the background and processes videos from Facebook, Messenger and even Instagram.

These steps were necessary to keep up with the growing number of videos uploaded to the site as well as, introduce annoying features like auto-playing videos in the newsfeed.

Facebook also has an interest in virtual reality videos by the virtue of owning Oculus. They also announced the open-sourcing of Transform, a tool that makes 360 degree videos 25% smaller in size. At the companies Video @Scale conference, Facebook explained how the video shot from multiple angles is folded into a cube around the VR viewer's line of sight.

Which we're sure Apple will find useful, now that they're planning to enter the VR segment too.