Why does Lightcast encode the video files I upload?

Each video upload is being encoded and populated for optimized Web, Mobile and OTT streaming into many different file formats and bitrates. In order to deliver multi-bitrate video files for auto-bandwidth-switching to ensure perfect viewability for all users, Lightcast populates many different bitrate files which are saved on our video storage and distributed via our worldwide CDN to your website, mobile apps and OTT platforms such as Roku, AppleTV, FireTV, AndroidTV etc.