a system and method for delivering content over the internet from a content source to a destination is disclosed which includes the use of an overlay network , built on an underlying ip network . additionally , error correction capability is added to the overlay network to allow the destination to reconstitute packets lost during the transmission over the internet . in one embodiment , an overlay network is created using a plurality of overlay nodes , which may be geographically distributed . each respective content source or destination is also a part of the overlay network . overhead , capable of providing error correction capability , is added to the content flow as it enters the overlay network . as the content flow leaves the overlay network , this overhead is removed from the content flow . in the case of transmission errors across the overlay network , the overhead information is used to reconstitute lost or corrupted packets .