HTTP Live Streaming (HLS) is the most common format for delivering Adaptative Bitrate media streaming over the internet today, designed and maintained by Apple.

Unlike other streaming formats, HLS is compatible with many devices and firewalls. It provides high-quality, versatile video streaming. However, due to the nature of the HLS transcoding, it is possible to keep the HLS manifest file to stream the content after the paywall revokes access.

For some content creators, enabling DRM on their content is one way they can protect their copyrighted work. Unfortunately, what often happens with DRM is that it adds friction to the playback experience, preventing users from rightfully using the content as they wish, despite legitimately purchasing it, adversely affecting sales, as consumers may choose to stay away from over-secured products.

While we don't support DRM-level protection as of now, we have implemented a few mechanisms to protect your content.

To keep our systems safer, we do not disclose our internal security systems, as informed in our Privacy Policy. Nevertheless, you can find some information about our security initiatives below.

This protocol encrypts data transferred over the internet to ensure that hackers cannot see private and sensitive information. When you set up a custom domain, Uscreen may need up to 48 hours, to install the SSL certificate.

We have a feature to limit concurrent session limits by IP address. You can find more information in the dedicated help guide.

This makes it much more challenging to redistribute the paywalled content and reduces password-sharing and abusive usage.

You can set geo-blocking rules from the Admin Area to ensure your content can only be watched in countries where you have content distribution rights. You can apply these rules to one or several videos, your website, or native apps.

Learn more about Geo-Blocking →

We have implemented Google's reCAPTCHA v3 on sign-in and checkout pages, which returns a score for each visitor, based on interactions with your site. It helps detect and reject malicious bots.

We have implemented a new security feature to prevent unauthorized viewers from downloading your content or embedding your live streams externally.

Signed playback URLs include a server-side security token. Viewers can watch videos until the token expires, and the system denies all requests afterward.

People stealing or hotlinking your content will soon end up with broken links.

The expiration time is equal to one hour plus the duration of the video. If a user pauses a video for longer than one hour, they may need to refresh the page to load a new security token.

NOTE: As of now, signed URLs are not enabled for static video downloads, if you enable this feature, your MP4 download links can be shared externally. You can submit a feature request to extend this feature coverage to downloadable videos.

We advise submitting a copyright removal request or DMCA takedown notice if your copyright-protected work was posted elsewhere without your authorization.

You can find more information about requesting the removal of content posted on YouTube here: https://support.google.com/youtube/answer/2807622?hl=en

Hosting providers are legally required to provide a DMCA takedown form and will usually remove the content as soon as you prove your rightful ownership.

Additionally, we recommend adding a watermark to your videos before you upload them to Uscreen.