Adding Streaming Video to Your Website

Adding streaming video to your site can be a great way of making it a lot more interesting for users, but it can also be a bit difficult for the beginner to make the right choices. This article will explore some of the things you will have to consider before adding streaming video to your website.

How many users?

Is your site very popular? Is your streaming video going to be viewed by many people at the same time? You need to ask yourself if you need to have your website hosted on a special streaming server. This kind of server can handle a lot more traffic than a normal server. A streaming server also offers the abbility to make live broadcasts (or webcasts), which is virtually impossible on a normal server.

Progressive download

If you don't have the need to make live webcasts you should consider using progressive download instead of actual streaming. Progressive download means that a user will download a bit of the video file before playback is started. This bit of the file will then serve as a buffer that will ensure unbroken playback even if the strain on the server's bandwidth peaks for a while.
It's not real streaming and you can't make live webcasts this way, but most webmasters will find that progressive downloading is adequate for their needs.

What format?

You need to think about what format you want to use. Should it be Windows Media, Quicktime or RealMedia - or maybe something else? What do your users use? You could consider making a poll to find out what format the majority of your users prefer. Some people refuse to use any other player than their favorite, so you should be sure to include as many of your users by your choice of streaming format.