Is Streaming Video Practical?
Streaming video allows you to watch a video file as it downloads. Streaming is not limited to video files – it can also be used for audio files. Streaming technology is the greatest thing since sliced bread, because without it we would have to download the entire file before watching or listening to it. Video files are usually quite large so they can take a long time to download. A feature-length movie (about 90 minutes of video) can be compressed to about 700 MB so that it will fit on a standard CD. Compression discards part of the original video, so a movie compressed down to 700 MB will not look as good as its DVD counterpart. Even so, 700 MB can take days to download, depending on your connection speed. Streaming has an advantage over downloading because it allows you to watch a video within a few seconds of pushing the play button.
