Live streaming web audio and video
Live streaming technology is often employed to relay live events such as sports, concerts and more generally TV and Radio programmes that are output live. Often shortened to just streaming, live streaming is the process of transmitting media 'live' to computers and devices. This is a fairly complex and nascent subject with a lot of variables, so in this article, we'll introduce you to the subject and let you know how you can get started.
The key consideration when streaming media to a browser is the fact that rather than playing a finite file we are relaying a file that is being created on the fly and has no pre-determined start or end.
In this case, we are using static media to describe media that is represented by a file, whether it be an mp3 or WebM file. This file sits on a server and can be delivered — like most other files — to the browser. This is often known as a progressive download.
Live streamed media lacks a finite start and end time as rather than a static file, it is a stream of data that the server passes on down the line to the browser and is often adaptive (see below). Usually, we require different formats and special server-side software to achieve this.
