Streaming has been quite popular for many years since the internet went mainstream. People who used to wait for a week to watch their favorite sitcom through streaming services to watch missed episodes and even the latest released blockbuster movies. All credit goes to the evolution of the internet and improvements that have been made with time. If you are facing any lags while playing or streaming, you can simply look for Spectrum packages in your area.
What is Streaming?
Streaming allows the viewer to consume content online without downloading it. If you are listening to your favorite songs while browsing the internet or playing short videos on social media, you are streaming.
The millennials would have an idea of how difficult it was to download a single song not more than a few MBs back in the 90s. However, with the passage of time the speed of the internet improved, more technologies took over the older ones, and now we all are chained to our screens year around. Popular music platforms such as Spotify, Apple Music, and Pandora have gone mainstream among music lovers. While Netflix, Hulu, Disney+, and HBO Go are some of the popular streaming services that are need of every home and entertainment seeker.
How does Streaming Work?
Gone are the days when you had to rent or buy a DVD to watch your favorite movies and TV shows. With the emergence of streaming, one can easily consume content just by pressing a button. Whether it is a newly released album or a hit movie on box office, streaming has got your back.
The question is how does streaming work? Streaming is the process in which the data is sent and received in a constant flow over a network. It allows you to view content while the rest of the data is constantly sent. For instance, if you watch a movie on your computer or smartphone, you will be able to start watching it as soon as it plays, while the rest of the data is being transmitted in a constant flow.
If you are having a reliable internet connection, you will be able to stream entire movies without any stoppage or buffering. You have used streaming a couple of times without even subscribing to HBO, Netflix, or Amazon Prime Video. For instance, when you play music on Spotify or playing the game online, you are streaming.
The companies offering content for streaming need cloud platforms or servers for storing data. For instance, Netflix owns CDN or content delivery a network that keeps the content cached close to the location where it is streamed to reduce bandwidth cost and latency.
If you want to stream any kind of content whether it be music, game, or movie, you will need high-speed internet. At least a 2Mbps connection is good to provide seamless streaming. During the time of streaming content, data is transferred to buffer, which stores the next few minutes for the coming scenes or song. However, if your connection is too slow, you will face with buffering and lags. And if you want to watch 4K or HD content, you need to upgrade your connection to at least 5Mbps.
Types of Content that can be Streamed
In today’s digital era, you can find a wide range of content to ready to stream. Videos and music are the most popular forms, which are known to everyone. However, there are also other options available when it comes to streaming that includes live events, games, and apps.
Music or Audio
Audio streaming has been quite popular with the advent of Spotify and Pandora. Audio streaming can include anything from music to podcasts. For instance, music streaming allows users to play songs from different artists without needing to download. Moreover, services like Pandora, Apple Music, and Spotify deliver millions of music tracks readily available for streaming with just a push or touch of a button. Pandora also allows you to curate your audio playlist according to mood or genre. Apps like Spotify allow you to play what you select. The fact is that every streaming platform has its features and functionalities.
Podcasts can be downloaded or streamed to listen now or later. Podcasts are normally available through services like Stitcher and iTunes. Moreover, you can also stream audio files on whatever device you want – such as a Bluetooth speaker.
Video
Video as we all know was the first one to step into the streaming arena. Services like YouTube and Dailymotion are perfect examples. You don’t need to download huge multimedia files. Rather the video streaming takes place by compressing the data into small packets and sending back to the device where they are decompressed and displayed. While you are streaming, the video is in a constant state of buffering.
While you are watching the first packet of data, the next packet is already in the process of decompressing. Some of the most popular streaming services include Amazon Prime, Sling, Hulu, Netflix, HBO Go, and Disney+. Video streaming allows you to save your precious time and any other glitches. For instance, if you are downloading your favorite movie and something went wrong with your system – all your efforts will be ruined. Moreover, streaming saves a lot of disk space.
Apps and Games
Game streaming just works like audio or video streaming. It saves a lot of space on your system. All you need to do is connect wirelessly and the processing demands on your device are offloaded to the gaming server.
Apple has now introduced games that include only their core functions in a download, and stream new levels as you progress. In addition, Google Stadia also allows you to stream games on any device that can access a browser. You don’t need to download any file, nor do you need to buy any console.
Summing Up
In this post, we have discussed what is streaming, how streaming works, and the types of content that can be consumed through streaming. Hope you have got all your answers in this post.
