Streaming format

As a streaming format is referred to special file formats for streaming media .

The multimedia formats are usually containers for various formats compressed with streaming codecs , so the distinction between codec and file format is not always clear.

Major streaming formats

Most proprietary streaming players only support their own in-house formats, while many free, i. H. Open source players support various formats. The VLC media player can for example - at least partially - the formats Ogg , ASF , QuickTime , AVI u. a. read.

Free formats

• Xiph.org / Ogg project ( open source )
  • Audio: Vorbis ( Ogg )
    • Language: Speex (SPX)
  • Video: Ogg Media (OGM), the same data format as Ogg, was introduced as a file extension in order to distinguish films from pure audio files and to allow them to be opened accordingly by different programs; Theora
• Matroska

Proprietary formats

• Apple :
  • Audio and video: QuickTime (QT, MOV or AVI )
• Microsoft :
  • Audio: Windows Media Audio (WMA)
  • Video: Windows Media Video (WMV)
  • Meta file formats: Advanced Streaming Format ( ASF )
• RealNetworks :
  • RealMedia
    • Audio: RealAudio (RA)
    • Video: RealVideo (RV)
    • Meta file formats (RAM and RPM)

Streaming data types

The special streaming data types have a relatively simple structure.

Example: Structure of an ASF file:

Header Object

File Properties Object Stream Properties Object 1 ... Stream Properties Object n <OtherHeader Objects>

Data Object

Data unit ... Data unit

Index Object

<Other Objects>

See also

• Streaming media , streaming audio , streaming video
• Audio format , video format
• Streaming production , streaming codec , streaming protocol , streaming distribution , streaming server , streaming client
• Encoder
• Netaudio