Smoother Streaming with BBR

This post details an A/B experiment with BBR, a new TCP congestion control algorithm, which resulted in increased download bandwidth and decreased stutter for Spotify users, particularly in regions with higher packet loss. The experiment involved enabling BBR on a subset of audio servers and measuring playback latency, stutter, and bandwidth. Results showed a 6-10% decrease in stutter and a 5-15% increase in bandwidth, with more significant improvements in Asia-Pacific and Latin America. A specific incident with an upstream provider highlighted BBR's resilience to network congestion.