FAQ  > Streaming > What is streaming ?

With streaming, you read a video, a sound not from a hard disk but from an interface, such as a network.
There is no longer the notion of beginning or end of a recording, the time reference is real-time. The media broadcasted is the one on the interface, with a constant delay.
The fundamental difference is that it is no longer necessary to download the media in its entirety before playing it. The player has to parallelise the data reception and restitution.
This capacity is also used when playing long medias (a trailer, a musical title) previously recorded on the server (video on demand).
Streaming technology can also be used to transmit live content (webradio for example)