How does video on the Internet work?

How does video on the Internet work?

Ethan Feerst and Dylan Stewart (Technology Therapist, Mac Guru) gives expert video advice on: Is it legal to download copyrighted media via the Internet?; How does file sharing work?; Can I watch my favorite TV shows over the Internet? and more...

Video on the Internet takes a lot of different forms. Video on the Internet can be something such as a streaming video clip that you're seeing on CNN.com or another web site. This is a file that they've loaded that is ready to be accessed at any point that your web browser or your streaming video player requests a connection. In some cases you'll also find video formats that are in an mp4 movie file format, which can either be downloaded to your computer if your Internet connection is slow, or in some cases, or with some programs play it over the Internet. Video formats are in flux right now. The music formats that the Internet have more or less stabilized with the advent of MP3 players and iPods by necessity. But there is not a lot of standardization in the video format, so you can see video in litterally dozens and dozens of different types of programs and different types of formats, some of which are completely incompatible with certain browsers, or certain programs, or certain computers entirely.