Livepeer Network Design

Purpose, design, and implementation of the Livepeer Network: the off-chain execution layer that turns the protocol’s rules into delivered video and AI compute.

Network Role

The Network was designed to deliver real-time video and AI compute at production volume on a permissionless, open marketplace.

The Network provides the off-chain execution layer for Livepeer with GPU operators accepting jobs, gateways routing demand, and payments settling continuously off-chain.

The Livepeer Network is implemented by nodes running go-livepeer that accept jobs, perform compute, transcoding and AI inference, exchange off-chain payments, and then settle on-chain.

Network Design Principles

The 2017 whitepaper specified core design principles for the Livepeer video broadcasting network:

Design Decisions

The Network’s design reflects deliberate choices made to preserve the seven properties at scale.

• Single binary, multiple modes: go-livepeer runs as gateway, orchestrator, or worker. One codebase, one upgrade path. A new operator does not pick between products; they pick a mode.
• Probabilistic micropayments off-chain: Tickets accumulate off-chain; only winning tickets are submitted to the on-chain TicketBroker. Per-pixel video and per-token AI become economical because on-chain settlement per job would exceed the price of the work.
• Posted prices, not auctions: Orchestrators publish a price-per-unit; gateways accept or reject. No bidding round. The market runs continuously; price competition is visible; gateways route work without per-job coordination.
• Stake gates the active set: Bonded LPT determines which orchestrators are eligible for video work each round. The reliability of the Network is anchored in the economic exposure of its operators.
• Pipelines, not protocol upgrades: New AI capabilities ship as new pipelines an orchestrator chooses to run. Adding capacity for a new workload does not require a hard fork or a governance vote.

Slashing exists in the Protocol but is currently dormant: the on-chain Verifier role is set to 0x0. Honest work is enforced today through stake exposure, fast verification, and marketplace selection, not active on-chain slashing.

Network Evolution

The design principles and mechanisms outlined in the whitepaper have been preserved and expanded upon in the real-world implementation of the Livepeer Network, which has evolved to meet the demands of production workloads while adhering to the core tenets of decentralisation, permissionless participation, and economic security.

The Network’s design continues to reflect the original vision of an open, decentralised marketplace for video and AI compute, while incorporating new features and optimisations that have emerged through real-world usage and community feedback over time.

Network Participants

Related Pages

The on-chain layer that anchors the Network.

The four-layer Livepeer stack.

Who participates and why.

How to extend the Network beyond running a node.