AI & Technical question

What is RTSP(Real Time Streaming Protocol)?

Practice this question out loud. An AI interviewer asks it, follows up like a real interviewer would, and scores your answer. Type or speak.

What this question tests

Whether you understand core streaming protocols well enough to reason about video product decisions, not just quote a definition.

State that RTSP is a network control protocol for starting, pausing and stopping media streams between a client and server.
Contrast it with the data transport it typically pairs with, RTP, since RTSP only carries commands, not the media itself.
Note it runs over TCP for control while media often flows over UDP, which affects latency versus reliability.
Mention where it is used today, mostly IP cameras and legacy broadcast setups, less so modern web streaming.
Compare briefly to HLS or DASH, which Twitch and most consumer platforms use instead because they work over plain HTTP and CDNs.
Ask the interviewer if they want the protocol explained or its product tradeoffs for a live platform like Twitch.

Explains RTSP is stateful, unlike HTTP-based HLS, so it needs persistent connections and firewall-friendly NAT traversal.
Ties the answer to Twitch specifically: RTSP style low-latency ingest matters for the broadcaster upload path, while viewers get HLS or LL-HLS for scale.
Gives a concrete number as an assumption, RTSP round trips can add tens of milliseconds versus segment-based delivery.
Shows awareness that CDN caching does not work well with RTSP, which is why it is rarely used for viewer-facing delivery.

Confusing RTSP with RTMP, which is the protocol actually used for ingest on platforms like Twitch.
Giving a textbook definition with no connection to why a PM would care about it.
Not distinguishing control plane from media plane.

How would you decide between RTMP and SRT for broadcaster ingest?
What tradeoffs would you weigh between latency and reliability for a live sports stream?