Streaming is the method of data transmission used when someone watches video on the Internet. It is a way to deliver a video file a little bit at a time, often from a remote storage location. By transmitting a few seconds of the file at a time over the internet, client devices do not have to download the entire video before starting to play it.
Live streaming is when the streamed video is sent over the Internet in real time, without first being recorded and stored. Today, TV broadcasts, video game streams, and social media video can all be live-streamed.
Think about the difference between regular streaming and live streaming as the difference between an actor reciting a memorized monologue and improvising a speech. In the former, the content is created beforehand, stored, and then relayed to the audience. In the latter, the audience receives the content in the same moment that the actor creates it – just like in live streaming.
The term live streaming usually refers to broadcast live streams: one-to-many connections that go out to multiple users at once. Videoconferencing technologies like Skype, FaceTime, and Google Hangouts Meet work on real-time communication (RTC) protocols rather than the protocols used by one-to-many live stream broadcasts.
How does live streaming work on a technical level?
These are the main steps that take place behind the scenes in a live stream:
- Compression
- Encoding
- Segmentation
- Content delivery network (CDN) distribution
- CDN caching
- Decoding
- Video playback
