streaming media

Multimedia (audio and video) files that start to play in a steady and continuous flow, almost immediately upon their downloading. In contrast, an ordinary audio/video file must be downloaded, and decompressed and saved, in its entirety before it can be played. Streaming occurs at the client (user) end where a program (usually a plug in) such as 'RealAudio' or 'CU See Me' decompresses the incoming compressed file while it is being downloaded, and sends it to the application (usually a browser) for conversion into sound and/or video.