GC: n

CT: Streaming means listening to music or watching video in ‘real time’, instead of downloading a file to your computer and watching it later.
With internet videos and webcasts of live events, there is no file to download, just a continuous stream of data. Some broadcasters prefer streaming because it’s hard for most users to save the content and distribute it illegally.

S: http://www.bbc.co.uk/webwise/guides/about-streaming (last access: 13 February 2015)

N: 1. From stream (v.), early 13c., “to flow copiously,” from stream (n.). Transitive sense “discharge in a stream” is from late 14c. Related: Streamed; streaming. Compare German strömen, Dutch stroomen, Danish strömme, all verbs from nouns.
2. Streaming or media streaming is a technique for transferring data so that it can be processed as a steady and continuous stream. Streaming technologies are becoming increasingly important with the growth of the Internet because most users do not have fast enough access to download large multimedia files quickly. With streaming, the client browser or plug-in can start displaying the data before the entire file has been transmitted.
3. Streaming is a relatively recent development, because your broadband connection has to run fast enough to show the data in real time. Files encoded for streaming are often highly compressed to use as little bandwidth as possible.
If there is an interruption due to congestion on the internet, the audio will drop out or the screen will go blank.
To minimise the problem, the PC stores a ’buffer’ of data that has already been received. If there’s a drop-out, the buffer goes down for a while but the video is not interrupted. If there is no more data in the buffer, it will usually stop and display a message – ’buffering’ – while it catches up.
Streaming has become very common thanks to the popularity of internet radio stations and various audio and video on-demand services, including Spotify, Last.fm, YouTube and the BBC’s iPlayer.

S: 1. OED – http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?allowed_in_frame=0&search=streaming&searchmode=none (last access: 13 February 2015). 2. http://www.webopedia.com/TERM/S/streaming.html (last access: 13 February 2015). 3. http://www.bbc.co.uk/webwise/guides/about-streaming (last access: 13 February 2015).

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CR: computer science