Streaming is a term that refers to seeing or hearing a file directly on a webpage without needing to download it to your computer. It can be described as “instant access.” In more complicated terms, you could say that it describes an on-demand strategy for the distribution of multimedia content over the Internet.

Before streaming technology appeared in April 1995 (with the launch of RealAudio 1.0), the reproduction of multimedia content over the internet implied having to download the entire file folder to a local hard drive. Audio files - and especially video files - tend to be enormous, so downloading and accessing them as complete packages can become a very slow operation.

However, with streaming technology a file can be downloaded and reproduced at the same time, so that waiting time is minimal.

Online radio and TV, conferences, concerts, music, events, seminars, distance education, worship services, and all that can be imagined could be streamed.