Streaming is a technique used in web
hosting for distribute near real-time multimedia files (sounds and
videos). When reading the file, a buffer is first created on the user's computer
containing the beginning of the file. When the content stored is sufficient, the
file starts playing, while the download continues. These files are compressed to
reduce bandwidth, which requires a codec installed on the server but also
installed software on the PC for recode.
Two different techniques are used for streaming,
the dynamic and static. In a dynamic configuration, the multimedia file is
created with different levels of qualifications. The server dynamically adjusts
the quality based on connection speed of the Internet. In this mode, the
transmission is never interrupted. In the static case, constant quality but can
lead to cuts in terms of transfer speed.
The installation of this mode of transfer to Website
requires a plugin (additional software) on the server and player software on the
associated PC that plays video and audio files. We find Real Audio, MP3
Shoutcast (a variant of standard MP3 files, recognized for example by Winamp) Macromedia
Flash or Quicktime.
Streaming requires a performant web server, a dedicated server for the most time with
unlimited traffic. UDP
is the protocol used to transfer, as it does not verify the transfer errors as
TCP, it is faster for applications to data loss.
