SRT Is Now the De Facto Standard for Open Internet Contribution

SRT has become the de facto standard for open internet video contribution, with adoption in greenfield deployments "essentially a given," according to Rethink TV's new report, "Open Internet Contribution Protocols Forecast: 2026-2032."

The researcher charts open internet transport taking share from legacy satellite and dedicated internet access (DIA) fiber lines through 2032. Growth comes from new sources of live events. Tier-two sports, news reporting, music concerts and livestreaming events lead the charge. The prosumer market, in particular, can drive new shipments and open the door for these protocols.

Over the past decade, Secure Reliable Transport has evolved well beyond its original purpose. SRT began as a practical solution for reliable, low-latency video delivery over unmanaged IP networks. It now covers primary contribution, cloud integration, playout and multisite connectivity.

What does the report say about RIST?

RIST does not fare as well. Rethink describes it bluntly.

"RIST remains an 'academic exercise' for many vendors, with its most ardent supporters viewed as something of a 'clan' that always lets perfect be the enemy of the good (SRT in that case)," the researchers write.

The verdict is not a write-off. "Still, few people we speak to completely write RIST off. Most believe it will grow, but none believe it will surpass SRT."

The reason is practical inertia. Most operators welcome RIST if it solves problems for them. But most believe SRT does enough already, and the extra features RIST might provide are not worth the hassle of upgrading.

RTP and RTMP face a slower decline. "They will continue to linger, but they are decidedly on the way out, through the period — persisting as legacy options in stubborn workloads," the report states. On the equipment side, finding a device that does not support SRT remains very difficult.

Why does Zixi face a protocol-versus-platform split?

Zixi occupies an ambiguous position in a crowded market. Rethink draws a line between the company's protocol and its platform.

"Zixi the protocol and Zixi the platform have slightly different perspectives," Rethink said. "The platform will delight in pointing to all the multi-protocol traffic it handles, and that it does not view SRT as a direct rival."

The protocol side tells a different story. Rethink's projections show Zixi import traffic declining, with the vast majority of Zixi platform customers using more than one protocol.

The commercial logic favors the platform. "The platform would note that so long as that traffic is arriving inside the Zixi SDVP (Software-Defined Video Platform) environment, Zixi gets paid, and so it is not as torn up over the protocol choice as the Zixi protocol itself might be," the report concluded.

Has NDI's opportunity passed?

Rethink is particularly harsh on NDI, saying its use "has completely fallen off a cliff."

For a time, NDI looked positioned to ride a wave of prosumer interest. Content creators entering from outside traditional M&E holdings brought a different way of working that favored NDI. Recent price increases and license-term changes dented that projection. In the four years Rethink has tracked NDI, the protocol has not made any dents in SRT or RIST.

NDI retains niche uses in M&E, particularly in graphics workflows. Rethink views it as well positioned as a simpler alternative to the SMPTE ST 2110 ecosystem, the open standard IPMX options and the closed SDVoE alternative.

Is Media over QUIC a threat?

A potential new entrant lurks. Media over QUIC (MoQ) has evolved on the distribution side rather than contribution, but chatter about using MoQ is increasing thanks to its low-latency capabilities over the UDP-based QUIC protocol. Rethink is tracking it, but sees no need yet to include MoQ in contribution projections.

What changes for buyers?

The report also flags the growing influence of software-defined workflows. With LLM-based coding and automation, the "software-ization" of video workflows continues apace, abstracting the choice of protocol from the choice of equipment at each step in the chain.

Certain encoders, the appliances, remain constrained. Increasingly, buyers can pick their protocol. Value now sits in the interchangeability and programmability of a workflow, rather than in economies of scale from committing to a single protocol and approach.

For contribution engineers, the practical takeaway through 2032 is straightforward: SRT is the safe default, RIST grows but stays niche, and the next protocol decision point arrives only if MoQ matures on the distribution side.