There is no dearth of modern devices nowadays for the sake of science and technology. And most of the devices are connected to the internet. Devices without internet are like lifeless devices. We have been using the Internet for a long time, that is, we have been streaming various types of content through the Internet for a long time. The Internet has reached such a point that many consider it synonymous with Netflix and Youtube. But my question is do you really know what internet streaming is or how it actually works? There is no problem even if you don't know. Because the purpose of today's tune is to give a clear answer to this question. So let's get to know today's discussion.

Internet streaming happens in a bit by bit manner

We often like to watch a video or listen to a song on our computer. But to watch this video or song first we need to download the video or song. There is no other way. However, we can watch the video or song directly from any social media with internet connection. So we usually log into Netflix or Spotify or use YouTube to watch videos or listen to music.

But if we want to listen to the video or song in offline mode i.e. when there is no internet connection, then we must download the video or song. In this case we click on the download option. As a result the video is permanently down-loaded to the ROM. But if you go to Netflix or Spotify and ask how can we instantly download any video or song?

Well, then a video will appear in front of you. And watching this video is basically internet streaming. That is, the whole thing from this search to the end of watching the video is basically the essence of streaming. After searching here you will continue watching the video i.e. streaming. At this time, the video will be downloaded to the computer bit by bit relatively or instantly. That is, the entire video will not be immediately downloaded to the computer but will be temporarily stored in the computer's RAM as a small part.

Its meaning is to be found in the word "streaming". Through continuous and slow streaming of information, information or data is downloaded or stored in your computer or information reaches the computer. That is, you download a movie and you can compare it to buying a bottle of water from the market. And streaming movies is like filling an empty bottle with tap water. That is, if you think of two things in this way, it will be a little easier to understand the matter.

You can compare streaming a movie to watching a VHS tape. When you play a VHS tape, every second of video and audio is scanned piece by piece. That is, this happens when playing VHS tapes, and it means any kind of interruption can suddenly ruin your movie-watching experience.

When we watch a movie or listen to a song, our computer downloads small parts of a media file in real-time or simultaneously and decodes them simultaneously. And then plays them. If you have a very fast internet connection, your file or song may be completely download before you finish viewing or listening.

And that's why we often notice that the video or song is playing or streaming for a while even after the electricity or current goes out, that is, even after the Wi-Fi connection is closed. Here the files you are streaming do not go to the permanent storage of your computer ie, they go over the temporary storage. As a result, they are deleted by themselves. However, some services (such as Spotify) store small cache files in your device's permanent storage in order to play faster on future replays.

Streaming platforms work hard to make streaming faster

Streaming video and audio on the Internet is nothing new. We file this streaming term as new because we may be less familiar with the term streaming. But it is a very convenient thing. If it streams slowly while watching a video or playing a song from a website, it is very annoying. In some cases we have to wait few minutes to watch the next part of the video due to buffering of the media file. Which causes the most irritation. If this problem is excessive, the level of irritation increases. But if the internet connection is very good or if the quality of the file is very good then this kind of problem does not occur at all.

But while the concept of streaming is old, the way streaming works remains the same. In this case, the files of the video you are watching or the song you are listening to are downloaded temporarily. However, video or file streaming can be improved if significant changes are made to the file infrastructure. File structure has changed a lot over the days. However, the owners of websites like YouTube and Netflix are playing a significant role in changing the file infrastructure. They are spending a lot of effort and money to develop the infrastructure of media files.

There was a time when YouTube and Netflix used only one or two servers to host their content. And because this matter caused many difficulties later, this method was canceled. Users who were located far away from the server experienced massive lag during streaming, and streaming slowed down significantly on high-traffic days. Later, companies created CDN (Content Delivery Network) servers to solve this problem. In this case, the content was stored on a nearby server and delivered. Here CDNs are dense and globally distributed servers that host the same content. It essentially eliminates lag and saves servers from being over-loaded in congested areas.

One thing to remember in this case is that even if you have a powerful CDN server, it will not work if all your users have weak internet connection i.e. the internet connection is not working. In some cases, this problem resolves automatically over time. ISPs are always competing for faster internet connections and are rolling out Google Fiber globally, so that they can provide high-speed 5G internet access around the world.

However, some streaming services and ISPs have realized that high global internet traffic, even with fast internet connections and dense CDN servers, can cause lag. For example, services like Netflix use more than 15% of the world's total surface internet bandwidth. When so many people stream the new season of Stranger Thing, the entire internet can slow down.

To solve this problem, streaming services provide Open Connect Appliances (OCAs) from ISPs. These OCAs are basically hard drives full of popular movies, music, and streamable content that redirect your Internet traffic to a Netflix or Hulu server. As a result your ISP's activity slows down. It speeds up your internet streaming and leaves the entire internet speed under Netflix. As a result the internet speed is prevented from slowing down.

Live streaming creates new problems

In the case of live video streaming on platforms like Facebook Live or Twitch, what you see on your device's screen happens in real-time, or almost simultaneously. That is, there are very few deals here. So, think about it yourself, how will it actually be? Here, files must be uploaded very quickly to a live streamer's device and downloaded to users' devices very quickly.

Because a live streamer is recording the video and every millisecond of that video and every millisecond of the accompanying audio is first split into small files and then these files are compressed and organized with an encoder and then uploaded to the internet. And then bit-by-bit down-loading to the user's device. As a result, the video appears on the user's screen almost at the same time. Since files are encoded, uploaded, decoded and downloaded respectively, there should not be too much lag between these activities. That is, there should be no lag between the activities between the source and the destination and the activities should be completed quickly.

Popular live streaming services such as Twitch and YouTube are building a global network of servers to reduce lag and improve the quality of video streaming. But almost all live streamed videos are available through a live streamer's internet connection. You might wonder why live streamers don't use OCAs? Because the development of fast internet connections like Google Fiber is making live streaming even better. And with the implementation of 5G internet services, the quality of live streaming has improved.

The future of streaming is video games

The human brain loves to play video games. We all play video games more or less. The idea of playing video games in our browser is nothing new. A very small portion of the internet is devoted to small games. There are many people all over the world who visit Facebook not only for Farmville and Candy Cruah games. However, there are other companies in the Internet world, who are providing streaming services for their resource-heavy console games and are trying to take gaming in the browser a step further.

Just to be clear, I'm not talking about live streaming farm simulators on Twitch, I'm talking about playing games remotely without a dedicated console or a $1000 computer. During game streaming, a server far away from our home handles almost all the number crunching required for power resource hungry games. Google's Project Stream and Nvidia's GeForce NOW services promise that even your weakest $100 laptop will be able to stream the biggest games beautifully. And this can save us a lot of money and hopefully remove the limitations of hardware for video games.

Here, streaming a video game on a computer is much more difficult than streaming a movie or music. In this case, you are not just continuously downloading a static file but you are manipulating and interacting with a file in real-time. In gaming, if there is any lag between controller input and screen activities, then the game is unplayable i.e., the game is boring. If you want, you can look at services like Skype and Facetime as pre-cursors to game streaming, because they have fast and two-way connections for game streaming. But game streaming requires more smooth and lag-free servers.

Resource-heavy game streaming services are not yet readily available or highly reliable, so these companies are reluctant to reveal their trade secrets. But, we know that these companies are essentially following Netflix's path. Companies like Nvidia are building powerful CDN servers packed with high-powered graphics cards, and Google is trying to find ways to connect Open Connect Appliances with high-speed Google Fiber home Internet services. And by doing this, games will be perfect for streaming. So anyway, it's safe to say that game streaming is the next step in the streaming media story.

So guys, this was today's tune. Hope you like it. If you like it, thank me with a joss. And if you have any comments about the tune, please comment. See you in the next tune. Until then, stay well, stay healthy and take care. Allah-Hafez.