The system is implemented as a client/server architecture.

The RealAudio server incorporates an encoder which

compresses sound into RealAudio files. The client side is a

web browser plug-in or add-on (a recent version of

Internet Explorer apparently has built-in support for

RealAudio) which allows the stream of data sent from the

server to be uncompressed and output using the normal sound

facilities of the computer, such as a sound card.