How does streaming work and how do I stream content?

With streaming, you can access a wide range of content from home via the Internet. Thus, it is possible to watch movies and series directly through your television. Since there are numerous services that offer streaming at the moment, the question often arises as to how the process actually works.

How streaming works

Streaming is about sending and receiving a continuous flow of data over a network. For this reason, you need a constant internet connection while streaming. Since the data is sent constantly, you can start watching the content even before you receive the rest of the data. But what is needed for streaming?

1. As a company that provides streaming, such as Spotify or Netflix, you need a server. This is where the content is stored. For this, there are also various options to minimize the delay of the content.
2. As a customer, you need a constant Internet connection. In addition, an appropriate device is needed, through which you can access the content, so for example, a laptop or a smartphone. Note that you need approximately a speed of at least 2 Mbps to play content reasonably smoothly.
3. Once you start streaming, the individual data packets are sent to a buffer memory and stored there. Anschließend werden diese aus dem Speicher ausgelesen. Kommen nicht schnell genug neue Datenpakete an, dann hängen die Filme und Serien. Je schneller Ihre Internetverbindung, desto höher die Auflösung, die Sie streamen können.