Generally, streaming refers to delivering audio and video to end users over the Internet without having to download the media file prior to playback. The protocols used for streaming include those that use HTTP for delivery such as Apple’s HTTP Live Streaming (HLS), MPEG Dynamic Adaptive Streaming over HTTP (MPEG-DASH), Adobe’s HTTP Dynamic Streaming (HDS) and Microsoft’s Smooth Streaming. These protocols are different than the delivery of web pages and other online content because streaming protocols deliver media in real time – viewers watch the bytes as they are delivered. Streaming content has several potential benefits for you and your end-users:
Streaming can give viewers more control over their viewing experience. For instance, it is easier for a viewer to seek forward and backward in a video using streaming than using traditional download delivery.
Streaming can give you more control over your content, as no file remains on the viewer's client or local drive when they finish watching a video.
Streaming can help reduce your costs, as it only delivers the portions of a media file that viewers actually watch. In contrast, with traditional downloads, frequently the whole media file will be delivered to viewers, even if they only watch a portion of the file.