Streaming media

Streaming media is a term used to describe multimedia that is constantly received by and presented to an end-user while being delivered by a provider. The verb “to stream” refers to the process of delivering or accessing media in this manner; the term refers to the delivery method of the medium, rather than any specific event or mode of presentation. Streaming media can be streamed live or on demand via computers, gaming consoles such as Xbox One/PS4, mobile devices such as smartphones and tablets, set-top boxes like Apple TV and Roku players, smart TVs (e.g., Samsung Tizen OS), digital video recorders (DVRs) such as TiVo Stream 4K UHD Media Player. Common streaming protocols include MPEG DASH,[1] HLS[2], RTSP,[3] RTP/RTSP.[4][5] They are either free content sources available through services like Netflix/Hulu Plus/Amazon Prime Video /YouTube & Vimeo etc.. Or subscription based with paywalls for premium content from providers like HBO GO /CBS All Access /ESPN+ .

There are two primary types of streaming: Progressive Download Streaming which downloads files sequentially in chunks instead loading entire file at once so it continues playing even if not fully downloaded yet where user experience playback interruption due buffering delays when network conditions change suddenly during download process; Adaptive Bitrate Streaming enables viewers switch between different bitrates depending on their connection quality automatically without experiencing significant lag time hence providing smoother viewing experience especially under fluctuating network conditions over Wifi networks because client device adapts itself dynamically according each individual’s internet speed capacity provided they have enough bandwidth allocated for themselves otherwise user will again face buffering issues resulting into poor viewer experience regardless type technology employed behind scenes due same underlying issue no matter what protocol one has deployed within their infrastructure thus making ABR inevitable choice over PDS more often now days given its advantages comparatively speaking considering latter still works well but only for slow changing environment where rate remains constant all times ..

In addition most popularly adopted codecs includes AVC(h264)/HEVC(h265)/VP8&9 along RealAudio & WMV format which provides better compression ratio thereby reducing overall size videos significantly saving large amount disk space compared other formats therefore enabling users quickly upload there clips online using limited resources unlike few years ago when uploading huge files would take hours if not minutes depending upon ones hardware specs plus original file size before encoding took place further boosting popularity among masses since most major websites including YouTube prefer these codecs mainly due efficiency offered terms storage & computation power required decoding them whereas few proprietary solutions also exist namely MS Smoothstreaming Protocol initially developed Microsoft Corporation later adopted industry wide allowing CDN`S perform efficient caching thus helping reduce latency problem associated with traditional HTTP servers hosting static contents specially high traffic sites suffering sudden surge requests peak hour causing frequent downtimes leading customer dissatisfaction eventually affecting bottom line revenues directly ultimately….