WebRTC, DRM & Netflix System Design: The Complete Guide (2026)

This guide explains Netflix's end-to-end video streaming pipeline serving 230 million users, covering video encoding with adaptive streaming (HLS/DASH), DRM content protection, CDN-based global delivery, and WebRTC for real-time communication. It also discusses why LiveKit/SFU is preferred over raw WebRTC at scale, and provides system design interview preparation with architecture decisions.