Video Streaming and VOD on a VPS with HLS/DASH, Nginx and Object Storage

When teams plan a new video platform—training portal, paid course site, sports streaming, or an internal media library—the same question comes up very quickly: “Can we run this on a VPS, or do we immediately need a huge, complex infrastructure?” The good news is that modern HTTP-based streaming (HLS and MPEG-DASH), combined with Nginx and object storage, makes it entirely realistic to build a robust video-on-demand (VOD) and even live streaming stack on top of a well-sized VPS. You don’t need a giant budget to get started, but you do need to think carefully about architecture, storage layout and bandwidth.

In this guide, we’ll walk through the core concepts behind HLS/DASH, then design a practical architecture: Nginx on a VPS as your origin/packager, S3-compatible object storage for segments, and an optional CDN in front. We’ll look at VOD vs live streaming workflows, VPS sizing, security, bandwidth control and day‑2 operations. The aim is simple: help you design a stack that starts small on a VPS today, but can scale smoothly to bigger servers or clusters later—without rewriting everything.

Why Run Video Streaming and VOD on a VPS?

Video is heavy: large files, sustained bandwidth, and CPU‑intensive transcoding. So why do so many teams still start on a VPS instead of jumping straight to massive dedicated clusters?

Because a modern VPS gives you:

• Full control over Nginx and encoding tools like FFmpeg, so you can implement HLS/DASH exactly the way you want.
• Predictable costs for CPU, RAM and storage while you validate your business model, content strategy or user demand.
• Easy migration paths to larger VPS plans, dedicated servers or even colocation inside the same provider when your traffic grows.
• Isolation from shared hosting neighbors, which is critical when you’re pushing sustained video traffic and need low latency.

At dchost.com we see this pattern often: start with a capable NVMe‑based VPS, add Nginx + FFmpeg + object storage, then grow out with CDN and dedicated servers when analytics and revenue justify it. The architecture you’ll see below is intentionally “VPS‑friendly” but not VPS‑only; it scales up without changing the fundamentals.

Core Concepts: HLS, MPEG‑DASH and Segment‑Based Streaming

Traditional “progressive download” video is just an MP4 file served over HTTP. The browser downloads from the start, and if the connection drops, the playback experience suffers. HLS and MPEG‑DASH use a different model that is much more friendly to VPS‑based delivery.

How HLS and DASH Work

• Video is split into small segments (e.g. 2–6 seconds each) instead of served as one big file.
• A playlist/manifest file (M3U8 for HLS, MPD for DASH) lists these segments and their URLs.
• The player downloads segments one by one over normal HTTP/HTTPS, which works perfectly with Nginx, CDNs and object storage.
• Multiple bitrates and resolutions are generated for adaptive bitrate (ABR) streaming. The player picks the best quality based on current bandwidth.

For you as the hosting architect, this has several benefits:

• Segments are cacheable objects; CDNs and browser caches handle them efficiently.
• Object storage is a natural fit: each segment is a small object, immutable and easy to replicate.
• It’s trivial to secure streams with HTTPS and tokenized URLs, because everything is regular HTTP traffic.

HLS and DASH are conceptually similar. HLS is slightly more ubiquitous in players and devices, while DASH is very standards‑driven and popular in modern web players. Many platforms support both; your VPS and Nginx configuration just need to generate the right manifests.

Reference Architecture: VPS + Nginx + Object Storage + (Optional) CDN

Let’s design a realistic, production‑friendly architecture that starts with a single VPS but keeps room to grow.

1. Ingest & encoding layer on the VPS (FFmpeg or similar).
2. Packaging & origin layer on the same VPS with Nginx, exposing HLS/DASH manifests and segments.
3. Object storage (S3‑compatible) to store video files, HLS/DASH segments and manifests.
4. Optional CDN in front to cache and globally distribute segments.

This is very similar to how we design static site and media architectures. If you want to go deeper into that side, see our guide on using object storage as a website origin with S3, MinIO and a CDN; the same principles apply here, just with video segments instead of images and CSS.

1. Ingest and Encoding Layer

This is where raw video is turned into streamable formats:

• For VOD: users upload MP4/Mov files, or you import them from another system.
• For live streaming: you ingest RTMP or SRT feeds (e.g. from OBS, cameras, or encoders).

On the VPS you typically run one or more FFmpeg processes to:

• Transcode the input to a common codec set (e.g. H.264 + AAC).
• Generate multiple bitrate ladders (1080p, 720p, 480p, etc.).
• Output HLS/DASH segments and manifests, either to local disk or directly into object storage.

Transcoding is CPU‑intensive. On a VPS, that means you need enough vCPUs and—if your provider offers it—fast NVMe storage to handle temporary files. If you’re not sure how to size that, our NVMe VPS hosting guide is a good reference for understanding IOPS, IOwait and real‑world performance.

2. Nginx as the Origin/Packager

Nginx plays two key roles:

• Origin server that serves manifests and segments over HTTPS.
• Reverse proxy in front of object storage or other internal endpoints if you want a single clean domain.

A common pattern on a single VPS is:

• FFmpeg writes HLS segments into /var/www/hls/<video_id>/.
• Nginx exposes that directory at https://video.example.com/hls/<video_id>/.
• Your player requests master.m3u8 from that path.

A minimal Nginx snippet for static HLS on local disk might look like this:

server {
    listen 443 ssl;
    server_name video.example.com;

    root /var/www/hls;

    location /hls/ {
        add_header Cache-Control "public, max-age=30";
        types {
            application/vnd.apple.mpegurl m3u8;
            video/mp2t ts;
        }
    }
}

For live streaming, people often combine Nginx with the nginx-rtmp-module to accept RTMP ingest and generate HLS on the fly. That’s fully compatible with a VPS setup as long as you respect CPU limits and connection counts.

3. Object Storage for Segments and Manifests

Keeping all segments on the VPS disk works at small scale, but it quickly becomes a constraint:

• Disk fills up with hundreds of thousands of small files.
• Scaling storage means resizing or migrating the whole VPS.
• Backups become slow and complex.

This is where S3‑compatible object storage shines. You can:

• Store each segment and manifest as an object (e.g. vod/movie1/720p/segment0001.ts).
• Enable built‑in redundancy and durability, independent of the VPS.
• Scale capacity separately from compute.

If you prefer to self‑host the storage layer on dedicated servers or a storage‑focused VPS cluster, MinIO is a great S3‑compatible option. We’ve documented a full, production‑ready setup in our guide on running MinIO on a VPS with erasure coding, TLS and bucket policies. The same patterns work perfectly for video segments.

Two practical workflows:

• Encode locally, sync later: FFmpeg writes to local disk; a background process (e.g. rclone) syncs to object storage.
• Encode directly to object storage: Mount an S3 bucket via a FUSE driver or use FFmpeg with an S3‑style output URL (more advanced, but avoids local disk usage).

4. Optional CDN in Front

For public video platforms, a CDN is almost mandatory once you get beyond small internal audiences. It will:

• Cache segments close to users.
• Shield your VPS and object storage from peak traffic.
• Offer regional pricing and bandwidth controls.

If you’re planning serious traffic, have a look at our article on controlling CDN bandwidth costs with cache hit ratio and regional pricing. The same tricks (good cache headers, long TTLs for immutable segments) apply directly to video HLS/DASH distributions.

VOD vs Live Streaming on a VPS: Different Workflows

HLS/DASH can power both VOD and live streaming, but the workflows and VPS impact are different.

VOD Workflow

1. User uploads a source file (e.g. 1080p MP4) to your application.
2. Your backend schedules a batch encoding job on the VPS.
3. FFmpeg generates multiple renditions (1080p, 720p, 480p…) and HLS/DASH manifests.
4. Output is written to object storage (or local disk + sync).
5. Nginx or a CDN serves manifests to your player.

Here, the heavy CPU usage is during encoding, not during playback. Once encoded, serving VOD is just static file delivery, which is trivial for Nginx and perfect for object storage + CDN.

Live Streaming Workflow

1. Streamer sends RTMP/SRT to your VPS (Nginx + RTMP module, or a dedicated ingest daemon).
2. FFmpeg or the RTMP module transcodes on the fly into multiple bitrates.
3. HLS segments for the latest window (e.g. last 30–60 seconds) are continuously generated.
4. Segments are written to disk or object storage and immediately requested by players.

For live, CPU and bandwidth usage are continuous. The VPS must be sized to handle peak concurrent viewers plus ingest. Latency targets (e.g. 6–10 seconds vs ultra‑low latency) also affect segment size and number of variants, which again touches CPU and I/O.

If you plan to mix both VOD and live, it’s common to start with a single VPS doing everything, then later split roles: one VPS for ingest/transcoding, another for origin+API, and object storage as the persistent layer in the middle.

Step‑by‑Step: Minimal HLS Setup on a Single VPS

Let’s walk through a concrete, minimum viable architecture for VOD HLS on one VPS. This is a good starting point before introducing object storage and CDN.

1. Choose and Prepare the VPS

• Linux distribution (Ubuntu, Debian, AlmaLinux, etc.).
• At least 2–4 vCPUs and 8 GB RAM if you’ll be transcoding regularly.
• Fast SSD or NVMe storage, especially if encoding multiple files at once.

At dchost.com we generally recommend NVMe‑backed VPS plans for media workloads so encoding and IO operations don’t become the bottleneck. You can always move this workflow to a dedicated server or even colocation later without changing your HLS/DASH logic.

2. Install FFmpeg and Nginx

On most distributions:

• Install FFmpeg from official repositories or a trusted multimedia PPA for newer codecs.
• Install Nginx (or Nginx + RTMP module if you also want live ingest).

3. Transcode a Sample Video to HLS

A simple one‑bitrate HLS output command might look like this:

ffmpeg -i input.mp4 
  -codec:V libx264 -codec:a aac -ac 2 -b:v 3000k -b:a 128k 
  -hls_time 4 -hls_playlist_type vod 
  -hls_segment_filename "/var/www/hls/demo/segment_%03d.ts" 
  /var/www/hls/demo/master.m3u8

This will create segment_000.ts, segment_001.ts, etc., and a master.m3u8 playlist. At this point, Nginx just needs to serve /var/www/hls over HTTPS.

4. Configure Nginx for HLS

Extend the earlier snippet:

server {
    listen 443 ssl;
    server_name video.example.com;

    root /var/www/hls;

    location /hls/ {
        add_header Cache-Control "public, max-age=60";
        types {
            application/vnd.apple.mpegurl m3u8;
            video/mp2t ts;
        }
    }
}

Configure TLS with Let’s Encrypt or a commercial certificate, and you already have a working HLS VOD demo on your VPS.

5. Evolving This Setup

Once the basics work, you can incrementally improve:

• Add multiple variants (e.g. 1080p, 720p, 480p) and a master playlist that lists them for ABR.
• Move segment storage to object storage and use Nginx as a reverse proxy in front of it.
• Put a CDN in front of Nginx to cache segments and protect the VPS.

The key is that your public URLs and player configuration don’t have to change when you move segments from local disk to object storage—only your Nginx upstream and sync logic do.

Scaling Out with Object Storage and CDN

As your library and audience grow, the two main pain points on a single VPS are:

• Disk usage from storing many HLS/DASH variants.
• Outbound bandwidth when many viewers watch simultaneously.

Object storage helps with the first; a CDN helps with the second.

Object Storage Pattern

A common pattern we use with customers:

1. Create an S3‑compatible bucket, e.g. vod-bucket.
2. Organize content by ID: vod/<video_id>/<quality>/segment_0001.ts.
3. Point Nginx to object storage as an upstream (via a private endpoint or public URL).
4. Optionally, keep only manifests on the VPS and store all segments in the bucket.

This lets you scale storage independently and even replicate it across regions. If you’re curious about the trade‑offs between object, block and file storage, our article on object storage vs block storage vs file storage explains where each layer fits in a hosting stack.

CDN Caching Strategy for Segments

For HLS/DASH, you typically want:

• Long cache TTLs for segments (they are immutable once encoded).
• Shorter TTLs for manifests (especially for live streams that update frequently).
• Consistent Cache-Control headers coming from Nginx or directly from object storage.

This approach dramatically reduces the number of requests that hit your VPS or origin storage. Combined with good analytics, you can keep bandwidth bills under control even as view counts rise.

Sizing Your VPS for Video Streaming and VOD

There is no single magic number for vCPUs or RAM, but you can think in terms of roles:

• Encoding/transcoding node: CPU‑heavy, benefits from many vCPUs and fast local NVMe storage.
• Origin/API node: focuses on network and open connections; moderate CPU, strong bandwidth.

For a combined role on one VPS, we usually advise:

• Small catalogs / internal use: 2–4 vCPUs, 8 GB RAM, NVMe storage, 1 Gbps port.
• Growing public platform: 4–8 vCPUs, 16–32 GB RAM, more NVMe space or offload to object storage, 1–10 Gbps port depending on provider and SLA.

If you’d like a more general framework for estimating CPU and RAM requirements, our article on how many vCPUs and how much RAM you really need outlines a practical way to translate expected traffic into resource sizing. The same mindset applies to video: estimate peak concurrent viewers, bitrates and encoding frequency, then work backwards.

Security, Access Control and Bandwidth Protection

Once you start hosting valuable video (courses, paid events, exclusive content), protecting it becomes just as important as making it play smoothly.

HTTPS Everywhere

All video delivery, including HLS/DASH, should run over HTTPS by default:

• Protects users on public Wi‑Fi from snooping.
• Avoids mixed content issues in browsers.
• Plays nicely with modern HTTP/2 and HTTP/3 optimizations.

Tokenized / Signed URLs

Instead of exposing raw segment URLs that anyone can copy, you can:

• Generate time‑limited signed URLs server‑side for each manifest or playback session.
• Sign at the CDN layer (many CDNs support signed URLs/cookies) or at Nginx with your own logic.
• Validate tokens in Nginx (via Lua, auth_request or a small upstream service) before serving content.

This doesn’t make copying files impossible, but it significantly raises the bar and avoids uncontrolled hotlinking that can burn your bandwidth budget.

Rate Limiting and Abuse Protection

Nginx can apply rate limiting per IP or per key to avoid abusive download patterns. Combining basic Nginx throttling with a Web Application Firewall (WAF) or DDoS protection at the edge gives you a layered defense. We regularly recommend that customers monitor 4xx/5xx errors and connection spikes to detect scraping or credential‑stuffing attempts early.

Monitoring, Logs and Day‑2 Operations

Video platforms fail quietly at first: a couple of buffering complaints, one or two broken streams. Without proper monitoring, these signs are easy to miss.

At minimum, you want to watch:

• CPU usage during encoding and peak viewing.
• Disk IO if segments are still being written to VPS storage.
• Network throughput (in and out) on the VPS.
• Nginx logs: 4xx/5xx rates, response times, cache hit/miss if you use Nginx cache.

If you’re new to time‑series dashboards and alerting, our guide on VPS monitoring and alerts with Prometheus, Grafana and Uptime Kuma is a good starting point. The same tooling works perfectly for tracking video platform health: you just add a few custom metrics about encoding queues, active streams and CDN cache hit ratios.

Putting It All Together: A VPS‑First Video Strategy

If you strip away the buzzwords, a modern video platform comes down to a few clean building blocks: HTTP‑based streaming (HLS/DASH), a reliable origin (Nginx), durable storage for segment files (object storage or MinIO) and a fast network path (optionally via CDN). A well‑chosen VPS is an excellent place to assemble these blocks, experiment with encoding ladders, test player integrations and tune security without committing to a massive infrastructure from day one.

The approach we use at dchost.com is always the same: start simple, but architect for growth. Begin with a single NVMe‑backed VPS running Nginx and FFmpeg, add S3‑compatible storage once your library grows, then place a CDN in front as traffic justifies it. Along the way, keep an eye on CPU, IO and bandwidth with proper monitoring, and refine your access controls with HTTPS and signed URLs.

If you’re planning a new VOD or streaming project and want to discuss the right mix of VPS, dedicated servers or even colocation for your use case, our team can help you map your content and audience profile to a practical hosting plan. You can start small on a VPS today, knowing that the same HLS/DASH + Nginx + object storage architecture will scale with you as your viewers—and your video library—grow.