Streaming
Send media in continuous small segments instead of whole files. The receiver can start watching before everything is downloaded. Today the default for all online video and audio delivery.
Protocols: HLS (Apple, m3u8 playlists + .ts segments), DASH (open standard, MPD), Smooth Streaming (Microsoft, dying). Adaptive bitrate (ABR) switches quality based on bandwidth. WebRTC for low-latency live (Twitch, Discord voice). DRM: Widevine (Google), FairPlay (Apple), PlayReady (Microsoft). CDN delivery (Akamai, Cloudflare, AWS CloudFront) is mandatory for scale. Modern trend: low-latency HLS (LL-HLS) + CMAF.