Streaming is smart technology and simple to understand. Furthermore, due to technology factors delivery is faster than traditional types. Streaming media delivers a more TV like experience to the viewer, which gives the viewer a more immediate response and a more satisfying experience. Importantly, like TV, multiple viewers can access the files simultaneously.

In order to deliver effective Streaming Media presentations on the Internet you must host your content on a Streaming Server. There are various kinds of Streaming Servers which can deliver various kinds of Streaming presentations. By far the most popular kinds are the Real Networks Real Server, and the Microsoft Windows Media Server. These software servers must also have 2 additional features in order to deliver your content effectivly being 1) a powerful hardware configuration and 2) a high capacity Internet connection.

Streaming Media Servers are designed specifically for the task of delivering live or on-demand streaming media rather than many small HTML and image files, a Streaming Media Server offers the following advantages over standard Web servers.

Higher network efficiency because of its ability to use UDP, the specialized protocol optimized for live and on-demand streaming.

Better Audio and Video Quality to the user because streaming media servers provides a continuous, smooth stream with barely perceptible changes in video frame rate during periods of network congestion and can takes advantage of UDP's inherent higher priority over HTTP traffic to give the streaming audio and video data higher priority than file and Web page transfers.

Streaming media servers also support advanced features like detailed reporting, VCR controls (seek, fast-forward, rewind), live video delivery, and delivery of multiple streams to the client.

They are more cost effective and more scalable to larger numbers of users. They are designed to handle large media files whereas web servers are optimized for delivering lots of small HTML files. The streaming server greatly improves performance by optimizing how media files are read from the disk, buffered in main memory, and streamed onto the network.

Streaming media servers support multicast which allows a single media stream to be played simultaneously by multiple clients, drastically reducing bandwidth use.

Streaming media servers also offer superior protection of copyright content for artists and content providers as users are prevented from capturing the file for later use.

Streaming Media Servers can use multiple delivery options.

The optimal protocols are UDP or Multicast when possible, but they can also fallback to using TCP and HTTP + TCP when necessary. This enables corporate users to view Internet content without compromising firewall security and ensures that all users on all networks can access all streaming media content. The Streaming Media Server will automatically switch to the appropriate protocol so no client-side configuration is necessary. The server will initially attempt to transmit files using the optimal UDP or Multicast protocols. If unable, the server will then attempt to send first via the raw TCP protocol, then via TCP with HTTP-based control.