communications Playing sound or video in real time as

it is downloaded over the Internet as opposed to storing it

in a local file first. A plug-in to a web browser such as

Netscape Navigator decompresses and plays the data as it is

transferred to your computer over the World-Wide Web.

Streaming audio or video avoids the delay entailed in

downloading an entire file and then playing it with a helperapplication. Streaming requires a fast connection and a

computer powerful enough to execute the decompression

algorithm in real time.