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Machine-readable term index: glossary-data.json
Core vocabulary for understanding Livepeer’s protocol architecture, network roles, economic design, and governance — useful for anyone reading the About section.

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Livepeer Protocol Terms

Definition: The top 100 orchestrators by total bonded stake that are eligible to receive work and inflationary rewards each round.Context: The active set is recalculated at the start of each round; orchestrators must maintain sufficient bonded stake to remain in the set and continue earning rewards and fees.Status: currentPages: about/protocol, about/staking
Definition: The process at the start of each round that determines the top 100 orchestrators by bonded stake to form the active set.Context: The election runs automatically each round on-chain; orchestrators that fall outside the top 100 by bonded stake are excluded from work assignment and reward distribution until they regain a qualifying position.Status: currentPages: about/protocol, about/staking
Definition: Legacy term for the node that published streams and submitted video jobs for transcoding; now replaced by “Gateway.”Also known as: replaced by GatewayContext: The term “Broadcaster” was used in early Livepeer documentation and the original whitepaper; current documentation uses “Gateway” for this role.Status: currentPages: about/protocol, about/architecture
Definition: Livepeer’s strategic vision and upgrade for becoming the leading platform for real-time AI video pipelines, integrating AI inference alongside transcoding on the network.Context: Cascade is the named upgrade phase enabling AI inference workloads on the Livepeer network, extending the protocol beyond video transcoding.Status: currentPages: about/upgrades, about/protocol
Definition: A Livepeer project running ComfyUI workflows as a real-time media processing backend for live streams, enabling AI-powered video generation pipelines.Context: ComfyStream is Livepeer’s integration layer connecting ComfyUI diffusion workflows to live streaming, allowing real-time AI video transformations to run on network orchestrators.Status: currentPages: about/ai
Definition: The production protocol upgrade (LIP-73) that migrated Livepeer’s core protocol contracts from Ethereum L1 to Arbitrum One.Context: Confluence was a major protocol milestone enabling cheaper, faster on-chain operations by moving the staking and payment contracts to Arbitrum.Status: currentPages: about/upgrades, about/protocol
Definition: The registry smart contract that manages all protocol contract addresses and coordinates protocol upgrades on Arbitrum.Context: The Controller is the central registry through which all other Livepeer smart contracts are discovered and updated during protocol upgrades.Status: currentPages: about/protocol, about/contracts
Definition: Livepeer’s hosted real-time AI video platform that turns live camera input into AI-transformed visuals with sub-second latency.Context: Daydream is Livepeer’s consumer-facing AI video product demonstrating real-time AI video generation capabilities built on the Livepeer network.Status: currentPages: about/ai
Definition: A token holder who stakes LPT to an orchestrator to secure the network, participate in governance, and earn a share of rewards.Context: Delegators are a core protocol actor in Livepeer; they bond LPT to orchestrators they trust, sharing in inflationary rewards and ETH fees without operating infrastructure themselves.Status: currentPages: about/staking, about/protocol
Definition: Livepeer’s inflation model where the per-round LPT issuance rate adjusts up or down by 0.00005% each round based on whether staking participation is below or above the 50% target bonding rate.Context: Dynamic inflation is Livepeer’s mechanism for incentivizing participation: when fewer than 50% of LPT is bonded, inflation rises to attract more stakers; when above 50%, it falls.Status: currentPages: about/economics, about/protocol
Definition: The layer where actual compute work is performed by orchestrators and workers, distinct from the on-chain protocol layer.Context: In Livepeer’s architecture, the execution layer is the off-chain network of orchestrator nodes doing transcoding and AI inference, coordinated by the on-chain protocol layer on Arbitrum.Status: currentPages: about/protocol, about/network
Definition: A node that submits jobs to the network, routes work to orchestrators, manages payment flows, and provides the interface between end-user applications and the Livepeer protocol.Context: Gateways replaced the legacy “Broadcaster” role; they are the demand-side entry point to the network, handling job creation, orchestrator selection, and probabilistic payment ticket issuance.Status: currentPages: about/architecture, about/protocol
Definition: The on-chain governance smart contract (LivepeerGovernor) that authorizes protocol upgrades and parameter changes via stake-weighted voting.Context: The Governor contract is Livepeer’s on-chain decision-making mechanism, introduced in LIP-89, enabling token-weighted votes on treasury allocations and protocol changes.Status: currentPages: about/governance, about/contracts
Definition: The formula governing new LPT issuance each round, where the rate adjusts dynamically based on whether total bonded stake is above or below the 50% target bonding rate.Context: Livepeer’s inflation model is designed to self-regulate staking participation: the rate increases when participation is low and decreases when it is high, targeting equilibrium at 50% bonded supply.Status: draftPages: about/economics, about/protocol
Definition: The sequence of stages from job submission through orchestrator selection, work execution, verification, and payment settlement.Context: Understanding the job lifecycle is fundamental to Livepeer’s architecture: a gateway submits a job, the network selects an orchestrator, work is performed off-chain, verified, and payment tickets are issued.Status: currentPages: about/protocol, about/architecture
Definition: A formal design document proposing a protocol change, new feature, or governance parameter adjustment for the Livepeer network.Context: LIPs are Livepeer’s governance mechanism for protocol evolution; they are discussed on the governance forum, ratified by stake-weighted vote, and executed via the Governor contract.Status: currentPages: about/governance, about/protocol
Definition: The ERC-20 governance and staking token of the Livepeer protocol, used for orchestrator selection via delegation, reward distribution, and network security.Context: LPT is Livepeer’s native utility token; bonded LPT determines which orchestrators are in the active set, how rewards are distributed, and how governance votes are weighted.Status: currentPages: about/staking, about/protocol
Definition: The smart contract responsible for minting new LPT tokens during orchestrator reward calls and holding ETH collected from winning payment tickets.Context: The Minter is the on-chain treasury and issuance contract; it releases newly minted LPT to the BondingManager each round and holds gateway ETH deposits until tickets are redeemed.Status: currentPages: about/contracts, about/economics
Definition: A supply-side operator contributing GPU resources, receiving transcoding or AI inference jobs, and earning ETH fees and inflationary LPT rewards.Context: Orchestrators are the primary compute providers of the Livepeer network; they must bond LPT to enter the active set, perform work reliably, and are subject to slashing for protocol violations.Status: currentPages: about/protocol, about/staking
Definition: Signed data structures issued by a gateway to an orchestrator representing a probabilistic payment; only winning tickets are redeemable on-chain for their ETH face value.Context: Payment tickets are Livepeer’s mechanism for streaming micropayments without per-segment gas costs; the lottery design means only a statistically appropriate fraction of tickets win, amortizing on-chain fees across many payments.Status: currentPages: about/payments, about/protocol
Definition: The Livepeer protocol’s fundamental time unit, approximately equal to one day of Ethereum blocks; reward minting, activations, and delegator earnings accrue on a per-round basis.Tags: livepeer:economicsContext: Key unit for orchestrator reward calculations, delegator stake checkpoints, and LPT inflation scheduling.Status: currentPages: about/protocol, about/staking
Definition: The minimum amount of participating stake required for a governance vote to be considered binding and valid.Context: Quorum in Livepeer governance ensures that protocol decisions reflect meaningful stakeholder engagement; votes that do not reach the quorum threshold are not enacted regardless of their outcome.Status: currentPages: about/governance
Definition: The on-chain transaction that an active orchestrator submits each round to mint and distribute new LPT inflation rewards to itself and its delegators.Context: Reward calls are an orchestrator’s operational responsibility each round; missing reward calls means forfeiting inflationary LPT for that round, which also harms delegators who rely on that income.Status: currentPages: about/staking, about/protocol
Definition: A discrete time interval defined in Arbitrum/Ethereum blocks during which staking rewards are calculated, the active set is determined, and protocol state is updated.Context: Rounds are Livepeer’s fundamental time unit for protocol operations; reward calls, active set elections, and inflation adjustments all happen on a per-round basis.Status: currentPages: about/protocol, about/staking
Definition: A time-sliced chunk of multiplexed audio and video data that is independently transcoded for parallel processing in Livepeer’s pipeline.Status: currentPages: about/transcoding, about/protocol
Definition: The on-chain registered endpoint URL that gateways use to discover and establish a connection with an orchestrator node.Context: The Service URI is how orchestrators advertise their network address; it is registered in the ServiceRegistry smart contract so gateways can look up orchestrators by their on-chain identity and contact them directly.Status: currentPages: about/protocol, about/architecture
Definition: An active connection between a gateway and an orchestrator during which one or more jobs are processed within a continuous work period.Context: Sessions in Livepeer represent the active working relationship between a gateway and a chosen orchestrator; payment tickets are issued within a session, and the session persists across multiple segments of a stream.Status: currentPages: about/protocol, about/architecture
Definition: A penalty mechanism that destroys a portion of an orchestrator’s bonded LPT for protocol violations such as failing verification, skipping verifications, or underperformance.External: Livepeer whitepaperStatus: currentPages: about/protocol, about/staking
Definition: A treasury-funded organizational unit with a defined scope, budget, deliverables, and accountability mechanism for executing specific ecosystem initiatives.Context: SPEs are Livepeer’s primary mechanism for funding ecosystem development; they are proposed via governance, approved by LPT stakeholder vote, and receive LPT from the on-chain treasury to fund their work.Status: currentPages: about/governance, about/protocol
Definition: A mechanism where each participant’s voting power, reward allocation, or selection probability is proportional to their staked token balance rather than equal per-participant.Tags: livepeer:governanceContext: Used in Livepeer governance votes, orchestrator selection, and reward distribution — delegators with more staked LPT have proportionally greater influence.Status: currentPages: about/governance, about/staking
Definition: A governance voting system where each participant’s vote weight is proportional to their bonded LPT stake.Context: Stake-weighted voting in Livepeer means both orchestrators and delegators can vote on governance proposals, with voting power determined by bonded LPT; delegators can override their orchestrator’s vote with their own stake.Status: currentPages: about/governance
Definition: The TicketBroker smart contract that manages Livepeer’s probabilistic micropayment system, holding gateway deposits and processing winning ticket redemptions.Context: The Ticket Broker is the on-chain settlement layer for Livepeer’s payment system; gateways deposit ETH into it as collateral, and orchestrators submit winning tickets to it to claim payments.Status: currentPages: about/payments, about/contracts
Definition: The on-chain pool of LPT governed by token holders via the LivepeerGovernor contract, funded by a percentage of per-round inflation and used for community-approved ecosystem grants and development.Context: The Livepeer treasury is a protocol-owned fund that allocates resources to SPEs, public goods, and ecosystem growth; it is distinct from the Livepeer Foundation and is controlled entirely by on-chain governance.Status: currentPages: about/governance, about/economics
Definition: Protocol-level processes that confirm orchestrators performed transcoding or AI work correctly, including Truebit-style verification and probabilistic spot-checking approaches.Context: Verification mechanisms are how Livepeer enforces work quality without requiring every segment to be re-verified; the protocol uses a combination of cryptographic challenges and economic slashing to deter misbehavior.Status: currentPages: about/protocol, about/transcoding
Definition: An AI model that is already loaded into GPU memory and ready to serve inference requests immediately, without the cold-start latency of loading from storage.Context: In Livepeer’s AI network, orchestrators can pre-load (“warm”) models in GPU VRAM to guarantee fast response times; warm models are declared in the aiModels.json config and prioritized for latency-sensitive pipelines.Status: currentPages: about/ai

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Economic Terms

See Livepeer Protocol Terms above — this term spans both protocol and economic domains.
Definition: Payments in Ether made by gateways to orchestrators for completed transcoding or AI inference work, delivered via the probabilistic micropayment system.Context: ETH fees are the demand-side revenue stream for orchestrators and their delegators, distinct from inflationary LPT rewards; they represent real market demand for network services.Status: currentPages: about/economics, about/payments
Definition: The portion of ETH fees earned by an orchestrator that is distributed to its delegators, determined by the orchestrator’s configured fee cut percentage.Context: Fee share (the complement of fee cut) is how delegators earn from real network demand; orchestrators configure what percentage of ETH fees they pass through to their stakers.Status: currentPages: about/staking, about/economics
Definition: Livepeer’s pricing model where orchestrators are paid based on the total number of pixels transcoded, enabling granular and standardized cost comparison across different video resolutions and durations.Context: Pay-per-pixel is the fundamental unit of exchange in Livepeer’s transcoding marketplace; it allows apples-to-apples pricing across different resolutions and bitrates by normalizing to pixels processed.Status: currentPages: about/economics
Definition: Livepeer’s unit-based pricing mechanism where fees are calculated based on the number of pixels processed during a transcoding or AI inference job.Tags: livepeer:economicsContext: A 4K frame costs more to process than a 720p frame because it contains more pixels; enables pricing that scales with workload complexity.Status: currentPages: about/economics, about/transcoding
Definition: An off-chain mechanism where two parties conduct multiple transactions and only settle the final state on-chain, reducing per-transaction gas costs.External: State channels — ethereum.orgStatus: currentPages: about/payments, about/protocol
Definition: A lottery-based payment scheme where only winning tickets are redeemed on-chain, amortizing transaction costs across many small payments without requiring per-payment gas.Context: Livepeer’s probabilistic micropayment system lets gateways pay orchestrators per video segment at sub-cent amounts without incurring Ethereum gas fees on every payment; the expected value of tickets matches the service cost.Status: currentPages: about/payments, about/protocol
Definition: The percentage of inflationary LPT rewards that an orchestrator retains before distributing the remainder to its delegators.Context: Reward cut is a key parameter orchestrators configure to attract delegators; a lower reward cut means orchestrators pass more LPT to stakers, while a higher cut means they keep more for themselves.Status: currentPages: about/staking, about/economics
Definition: The official currency of the United States; used as the reference denomination for Livepeer gateway fees, grant amounts, treasury allocations, and market data.Tags: economic:currencyExternal: WikipediaStatus: currentPages: about/economics, about/governance
Definition: A probabilistic payment ticket whose random outcome meets the configured win probability threshold, entitling the orchestrator to redeem it on-chain for its ETH face value.Context: In Livepeer’s payment system, most tickets are non-winning; only the fraction that statistically win are submitted to the TicketBroker for on-chain redemption, keeping gas costs low while maintaining correct expected payment values.Status: currentPages: about/payments, about/protocol

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Web3 Terms

Definition: A Layer 2 Optimistic Rollup settling to Ethereum, processing transactions off-chain while inheriting Ethereum-grade security; the chain where Livepeer protocol contracts are deployed.External: Arbitrum docsStatus: currentPages: about/protocol, about/network
Definition: Locking (staking) LPT tokens to an orchestrator in Livepeer’s delegated proof-of-stake system to participate in network security and earn rewards.External: Livepeer bonding overviewStatus: currentPages: about/staking, about/delegators
Definition: Fundamental building blocks that combine cryptography and economic incentives to enable secure, decentralized protocols.External: Cryptoeconomics — WikipediaStatus: currentPages: about/protocol, about/economics
Definition: The act of LPT holders staking their tokens toward orchestrators they trust, sharing in rewards without running infrastructure.External: Livepeer delegationStatus: currentPages: about/staking, about/protocol
Definition: A mechanism proving that an invalid state transition occurred on a Layer 2 chain, enabling challenges to incorrect rollup state roots.External: Rollups — ethereum.orgStatus: currentPages: about/protocol, about/network
Definition: The condition where a blockchain transaction becomes irreversible and cannot be altered or rolled back.External: Ethereum glossary — finalityStatus: currentPages: about/protocol, about/network
Definition: The base blockchain network (e.g. Ethereum) that validates and finalizes transactions without reliance on another network.External: Layer-1 blockchain — WikipediaStatus: currentPages: about/protocol, about/network
Definition: A separate blockchain that extends a Layer 1 by handling transactions off-chain while inheriting security guarantees from the underlying chain.External: Layer 2 — ethereum.orgStatus: currentPages: about/protocol, about/network
Definition: Activities occurring outside the main blockchain, typically for scalability, speed, or cost reasons, with results optionally settled on-chain.External: Off-chain — ethereum.org glossaryStatus: currentPages: about/protocol, about/architecture
Definition: Activities directly recorded and executed on the blockchain with full transparency and security guarantees.External: On-chain — ethereum.org glossaryStatus: currentPages: about/protocol, about/contracts
Definition: A blockchain consensus mechanism where validators stake cryptocurrency as collateral to propose and validate blocks, replacing computation-intensive proof-of-work.External: Proof-of-stake — ethereum.orgStatus: currentPages: about/protocol, about/staking
Definition: Re-staking tokens that are in the unbonding period to an orchestrator, canceling the unbonding process and returning them to active bonded stake.External: Livepeer bonding overviewStatus: currentPages: about/staking, about/delegators
Definition: The process of initiating withdrawal of bonded LPT from an orchestrator, which triggers a 7-round waiting period (thawing period) before tokens become liquid and withdrawable.External: Livepeer unbonding introductionStatus: currentPages: about/staking, about/delegators

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Video Terms

Definition: Software or hardware that compresses and decompresses digital video, typically using lossy compression algorithms.External: Video codec — WikipediaStatus: currentPages: about/transcoding, about/video
Definition: Apple’s HTTP Live Streaming protocol that encodes video into multiple quality levels segmented into small files, delivered with an index playlist for adaptive bitrate playback.External: HTTP Live Streaming — WikipediaStatus: currentPages: about/transcoding, about/streaming
Definition: A system characteristic where the delay between an event occurring and a response being delivered is minimised; in Livepeer, sub-500ms round-trip times are targeted for real-time AI video pipelines.Tags: video:streamingContext: Critical for interactive AI video applications — high latency breaks the real-time feedback loop between user input and AI-transformed output.Status: currentPages: about/ai, about/streaming
Definition: Real-Time Messaging Protocol for streaming audio, video, and data over TCP, commonly used on port 1935 for live video ingest from broadcast software.External: RTMP — WikipediaStatus: currentPages: about/transcoding, about/streaming
See Livepeer Protocol Terms above — this term spans both protocol and video domains.

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Technical Terms

Definition: The primary general-purpose processor in a computer; in Livepeer, CPU handles node software overhead while GPU handles intensive transcoding and AI inference workloads.Tags: technical:hardwareExternal: WikipediaStatus: currentPages: about/architecture, about/ai
Definition: Short-lived GPU resource allocation provisioned on-demand for a single AI inference task, released when the task completes.External: Edge computing — WikipediaStatus: draftPages: about/ai, about/architecture
Definition: Software distributed with its source code under a licence permitting study, modification, and redistribution; Livepeer’s protocol, go-livepeer node software, and SDK libraries are all open source.Tags: technical:conceptExternal: WikipediaAlso known as: open-source, FOSSStatus: currentPages: about/protocol, about/architecture
Definition: The Open Systems Interconnection reference model that defines seven network layers (physical through application) as a conceptual framework for understanding protocol design.External: OSI model — WikipediaStatus: currentPages: about/architecture

Protocol Overview

How Livepeer’s protocol, roles, and economics fit together

Full Glossary

All terms across every Livepeer tab

FAQ

Common questions about the Livepeer protocol and network
Last modified on March 30, 2026