Streaming refers to the technology that allows large files to be played over the internet in a seamless, flowing manner, which requires buffers and buffering. Streaming is an efficient way to enjoy content without downloading it through real-time playback and is used in a variety of fields, especially music, movies, and online education.
When you use the internet to watch a movie or listen to a song, you may come across the word “streaming”. What is streaming? Streaming is a process in which a provider sends material and a receiver receives it and plays it back, a process that, as the term suggests, flows like water. In other words, sometimes very large files are sent and played on the internet, and the technology that allows this to happen seamlessly is streaming.
Streaming technology is much more than just transferring files. While we often think of file transfers as receiving and storing all the data at once, streaming is about receiving data in bits and pieces and playing it back in real time. This is especially useful for efficiently handling large files.
Now think about listening to a song over the internet. Let’s call the entire file of a song 10. When you finish listening to number 1, you’ll hear number 2, which is ready to go, and so on, until you’ve heard songs from 1 to 10 without any interruptions. Just like water flows. There are two ways to listen to songs over the internet. One is to download all the songs from 1 to 10 and listen to them today or in a few days, starting with 1 or starting with 3. The other is to listen to the songs in real time, listening to 1 one by one, using the listening time to prepare for 2 or 3, and not saving the files. Each method has its own advantages and disadvantages. For example, downloading the entire file can ensure reliable playback even on unstable internet connections. On the other hand, streaming, which takes in data in real time, has the advantage of saving storage space. However, if you don’t intend to keep the song files, the latter option is probably more efficient. You don’t need to own the whole thing if you’re only going to listen to it once. If you divide a large file into equal-sized pieces, the people who use it will take the pieces they need first, and when the next piece reaches them, the material will flow like water. This is the idea behind streaming technology.
But here’s what can happen. During execution, the next fragment file hasn’t arrived. This is where ‘buffers’ and ‘buffering’ come in. A buffer is a temporary storage space for files that have been sent to it. If the buffer is reached by the next fragment while the first fragment is being played, the file playback will be smooth. However, if the next file is not yet in the buffer, playback will not be smooth. You’ll see the word “buffering” for a few seconds. Buffering is the process of preparing a file for playback. Once the buffering is over, playback starts again, and from then on, it should be smooth and uninterrupted. This buffering phenomenon is highly dependent on your internet speed and the health of the server. If the server is overloaded or your internet connection is unstable, the buffering time can be long. Nevertheless, sometimes songs or videos on the internet will pause or stutter. Streaming is supposed to be seamless, but why is that? Because even though we’ve come a long way with high-speed networks, there’s still a limit to the amount of data that can be transferred. However, internet transmission technology is constantly improving, so true streaming will soon be a reality.
Streaming technology can be used in a variety of ways. To date, online music services, internet broadcasting, and distance education using video lectures are some of the best uses of streaming technology. Recently, virtual reality (VR) and augmented reality (AR) content is also increasingly being delivered via streaming. This is to ensure that high-quality content can be delivered in real time, even when massive data processing is required. Wouldn’t it be better if someone who wants to watch a movie could just pull up the movie file stored on a server and watch it instead of having to download it to their computer? Streaming technology is a brilliant realization of this idea.
