What is the difference between content delivery and content distribution?

Question

Accepted Answer

**Content Delivery** — serving content. **Content Distribution** — spreading content.

**Content Delivery:**
- Serving content to users.
- CDN serves from edge.
- Low latency.
- User experience.

```
Content Delivery:
User → CDN Edge → Content
(Serving content from nearest location)
```

**Content Distribution:**
- Spreading content across network.
- Replication.
- Edge caching.
- Infrastructure.

```
Content Distribution:
Origin → CDN Edge 1 (replicate)
       → CDN Edge 2 (replicate)
       → CDN Edge 3 (replicate)
(Spreading content)
```

**Relationship:**
- Content Distribution enables Content Delivery.
- CDN does both.

**Key differences:**
- **Delivery** — serving.
- **Distribution** — spreading.

Systems Analyst: What is the difference between content delivery and content distribution?