Streaming Media

Streaming means watching or listening to something over the internet. You do not have to download the whole file first. Services like Netflix and Disney+ stream movies and shows. Spotify and Apple Music stream songs.

How Streaming Works

When you stream, data is sent to your device in small pieces. Your device plays each piece as it arrives. If your internet is fast, the video plays smoothly. If it is slow, the video might pause to load more data. This is called buffering.

Streaming Changed Entertainment

Before streaming, people rented movies from video stores. They bought CDs to listen to music. Now you can watch almost any movie or hear any song instantly. Streaming services have millions of choices. Many families have replaced cable TV with streaming services.

Fun Facts

• Netflix started as a DVD rental company that mailed discs to your house.
• People around the world stream over one billion hours of YouTube videos every day.
• The first live video stream on the internet showed a coffee pot in 1993.

Did You Know?

Streaming uses a lot of internet data. Watching one hour of video in high quality uses about 3 gigabytes of data. That is the same as about 750 songs!