Distributed Multimedia Systems: A Macro Perspective

The exponential increase in digital activities during the pandemic lockdowns has led to a significant surge in internet traffic, predominantly driven by Distributed Multimedia Systems (DMS) applications such as video streaming, online music, video calls, and online shopping, most of which have become indispensable post-COVID. We examine the core architecture, characteristics, and components of DMS, emphasizing their role in offering high-quality multimedia services, efficient resource utilization, robust performance, and minimal latency. We then explore the fundamental concepts and advancements in DMS, highlighting the challenges and potential directions for future research and innovation. Key components such as Quality of Service (QoS), Quality of Experience (QoE), resource management, encoding, transcoding, streaming technologies, load balancing, and system security are discussed. In this survey, we are offering a detailed description of how current distributed multimedia systems behave under various scenarios.