stream or streaming

To stream something over the Internet means to transmit a media clip (which could be audio, video or both), over a network, for immediate playback. Streaming is a data transfer technique that allows users to see video and hear audio files without lengthy download times (even though it may take time to buffer).

Think of a stream as the live flow of digital information. Here's how it works: A host streams small packets of information over the Internet to the user, who accesses the content as it is received but the data resides on the server. Content creators like streaming video because unlike downloads, it never resides on a viewer's computer and therefore, usually cannot be replayed as a downloaded file.

Examples of streaming media include live tickers (like you see on Wall Street), net radio broadcasts, podcasts, webcasts, Internet video, and television subscription services, like Netflix, Amazon Prime and on and on. 

As a flow of data, a stream is measured in kilobits per second (Kbps). Before YouTube, users needed a media player or plugin to view most video streams, not anymore. See video for a historical perspective on YouTube.

Historical perspective: John Borthwick, a VC from Betaworks, identified streams as the real-time Web. In the initial design of the Web, reading and writing were given equal consideration yet the primary metaphor of the Web has been pages and reading. The metaphors we used to circumscribe this possibility set were mostly drawn from books and architecture (pages, browser, sites etc.). Most of these metaphors were static and one way. The steam metaphor is fundamentally different. It's dynamic, like a river or a stream. A real time, flowing, dynamic stream of information -- that we as users and participants can dip in and out of and whether we participate in them or simply observe we are a part of this flow.

RealNetworks, founded in 1995 in Seattle, was a pioneer in streaming media. Because the Internet was initially built to handle text-based information only, RealNetworks created the technology that would enable end-user to create, send, and receive audio, video, and other multimedia services via the net. RealNetworks provided a universal platform for the delivery of any rich media-from any point of origin, across virtually any network, to any person on any Internet-enabled device, anywhere in the world. One of RealNetworks' flagship products, RealPlayer, was the second most widely-used Internet-based software application in the world in 2002. RealPlayer was installed on 92 percent of all home PCs in the U.S., and its user base grew by hundreds of thousands of new users per day. In general, RealNetworks technology was used to broadcast more than 350,000 hours of live sports, music, news, and entertainment over the Internet every week, and hundreds of thousands of hours of on-demand content. The first RealPlayer was released in 1995, and the company registered its 50 millionth user in January 1999. Formerly known as Progressive Networks, RealNetworks was recognized as the leader in the streaming media market... until the "Netflix and Chill" culture came along.

As of May 2025, streaming services surpassed both cable and network television in total viewership among people in the U.S. for the first time according to Nielsen. At that time streaming services accounted for 44.8% of all television viewership, their largest share to date. Nielsen found that total viewership for cable and network television accounted for 44.2% of all television viewership. Meanwhile, Netflix had over 300 million paid memberships globally, with figures placing them around 301.6 million as of late 2024, making it the dominant global streaming service, according to analyses from early 2026.