How Does Real Streaming Media Work

Streaming services allow users to stream movies and TV shows in "real time" over their Internet connection, which means that programs play at the same speed as they download

Fremont, CA: To download in an acceptable length of time, the audio and video material we download must be compressed drastically (much decreased in quality to generate smaller files). When you watch a streaming video on YouTube, it's still quite small and pixelated (full of obvious square blocks). That's because even today's fastest broadband connections can't handle the massive amount of data included in a widescreen, high-definition TV image. When broadband connections are way quicker, it will be able to stream HD-quality video over the Net. Then humans will have truly entered the age of information-on-demand. This information revolution has been fueled in large part by streaming media.

How real streaming media works

Transmission

Analog sound waves are used to create live or recorded sound. So, using an analog-to-digital converter, the first step at the transmitting end is to convert these waves into digital data. We can skip this step if the sound source is digital, to begin with. The digital data is then compressed by over 95 percent to allow for faster transmission. The compressed digital data is stored on a server and then sent to a PC via the Internet in stages. Of course, there's no explanation as to why a large number of programs can't be compressed and stored eternally in a library, then streamed anytime people want to listen to or view them, but keep in mind that Real Player was built to stream live radio shows as they were broadcast from the studio. The original version of Real Player was designed to send real-time audio over painfully slow dialup Internet connections; advanced streaming can send high-definition video multiple times faster over broadband connections, but it works in basically the same way.

Reception

A similar process operates in reverse inside a computer to convert digital data into sound. Data packets are received from the Internet over a phone connection and stored in buffers. Because the audio isn't being communicated fast enough, the buffers are meant to be as full as possible. If they're too empty, the audio playback may be interrupted. The data from the buffers is decoded and decompressed before being sent to a sound card's wave driver, which generates digital audio streams. A digital-to-analog converter converts these streams into analog impulses that power a loudspeaker, emulating the original sound as closely as possible.