Common streaming audio formats and players Uncompressed CD-
quality WAV and AIFF files are too large to stream over the
Internet for playback in real time. Instead, lighter-weight
compressed formats such as MP3 and RealAudio are employed for
streaming network audio. These formats use what are called
"lossy" compression schemes, reducing file sizes by eliminating
certain inaudible data from the original files without too
significantly degrading playback sound quality. MP3 and
RealAudio are excellent streaming formats, achieving performance
factors great enough to allow real-time encoding/decoding over
current network bandwidth conditions while delivering satisfying
audio quality. MP3 and RealAudio are not the only players in the
network streaming audio arena. We'll also look at Macromedia's
Flash and the Ogg Vorbis project from the Xiphophorus group.
Since RealAudio's Internet history begins the earliest, we'll
start with RealAudio. In 1995, Progressive Networks (now
RealNetworks) introduced RealAudio, the Inte