Downloading vs Streaming

Downloading

Get the file onto the hard disk, then play it

Fast-Start Downloading

• Start Downloading the file on the hard disk

• Get an estimate of the downloading speed

• Begin Playing the movie as soon as the rest of the download will take less time than playing the length of the movie

Data remains on the hard disk for repeated viewing without a need for bandwidth consumption

Starts relatively quickly if the compression is adjusted to the user available bandwidth (could be done automatically)

Those two first solutions work with any web server

Streaming