What Is Streaming And How Does It Work?
What Is Streaming And How Does It Work?
What is Streaming
Streaming has become a habit in the daily life of many people. But what is streaming, how does it work, and why is it so popular?
Streaming has become the primary way for most people to listen to music or watch videos because of its ease of use and flexibility. However, many people do not think about how it can produce movies and shows and display them directly to our TV and computers without any problems.
So, what is streaming? How does it work? Let's take a look and then identify its advantages and disadvantages.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
1. What is Streaming?
2. How Does Streaming Work?
3. Advantages of Streaming
4. 1. No need to wait
5. 2. Streaming Doesn't Take Up Computer Space
6. 3. No Schedule With Streaming
7. Lack of Streaming
8. 1. Requires a Good Internet Connection
9. 2. Can Only Stream Real-Time
10. Conclusion
What is Streaming?
Streaming is a way to transfer video and audio data without having to save any files on your personal computer. Instead, the data is stored temporarily. Every time you close a stream or connection, you end the data transfer.
Streaming media is usually stored on an external server, users can access this from any device that has internet. The faster the internet speed, the faster the streaming service will work. The reason streaming has become so popular is because you don't have to wait for files to download to your computer before you can start enjoying them.
When you download a file to your computer, you have to wait for the entire file to finish downloading before accessing it. But with streaming, when you click on the file you want to watch, it will start playing immediately. If the connection is weak then you will most likely experience buffering.
How Does Streaming Work?
Files used for streaming are encoded and highly compressed to use as little bandwidth as possible. It helps process files faster so you can enjoy them in real-time.
When your internet connection is lost or has low bandwidth, you will experience a decrease in audio or video quality. If the connection is too bad, streaming will stop completely.
To help provide a continuous stream of data, your PC will store a certain amount of data it receives. This means that it collects and stores data from the stream, and if the connection drops, you can still enjoy your viewing without interruption. Usually, a broadband connection is sufficient for streaming to work efficiently but the faster the connection you have, the faster the streaming will be.
Advantages of Streaming
Streaming is the main way for most people to enjoy watching in this modern age. Popular streaming platforms like Netflix and YouTube are examples of companies using the technology. So, why is streaming so popular? Below are three of its biggest advantages.
1. No need to wait
Unlike downloading a file and waiting a few seconds, minutes, or even hours for it to complete, you can stream files in no time. As soon as you click on the file, it will start playing.
Having the ability to watch video or listen to audio in real-time or live is the reason why so many are using streaming.
2. Streaming Doesn't Take Up Computer Space
Streaming doesn't even take up the user's computer space. When downloading files, you have to make sure that you don't use up too much computer storage space.
With streaming, no data is stored on the computer. Instead, data is stored remotely on different servers and you just pull that data without needing to store it on your computer. That way it saves your PC storage space.
3. No Schedule With Streaming
Unlike the usual form of entertainment, where we have to wait a certain time for the show to air, streaming allows us to play it at a time that is convenient for us.
There is no schedule with streaming and we don't have to wait for a certain time to watch it. You can browse the entire library of media content and enjoy it at home, work or even during breaks.
Disadvantages of Streaming
When discussing the advantages of streaming, it is also important to look at the drawbacks. Apart from all the benefits that can be mentioned above, there are also some disadvantages of using streaming. Here are two streaming drawbacks to keep in mind.
1. Requires a Good Internet Connection
If you don't have a fast internet connection, it will be difficult to try and enjoy your favorite entertainment on the computer. Because the bandwidth required to stream is quite high.
Broadband is the minimum requirement for stable streaming. If you use mobile data, streaming consumes a lot of data or quota and can drain your data plan quickly.
Also Read: How Much Data Quota Does YouTube Use?
2. Can Only Stream In Real-Time
Streaming is not like downloading files where we can access them whenever we want even without an internet connection.
With streaming, you need an internet connection and must be able to access streaming sources. If you want to watch the same stream again, you need to know where you're watching it from and make sure you have an active and fast connection. Otherwise, you won't be able to open and play it.
Conclusion
So what is streaming? In short, streaming is a technology used to deliver content to a computer or mobile device over the internet without having to download it. The power of streaming allows people to watch their favorite shows or movies in real-time without having to download files and wait for them to finish.
Hopefully, this article about What Is Streaming And How Does It Work?, gives you a little insight. Also, read an article about What Is Subnetting And Why Should You Use It that you may need to know. Thank you.