RealAudio


RealAudio

(tool, communications)A program from Real Media for playingaudio over the Internet, and the lossy audio compressionformat it uses.

The system is implemented as a client/server architecture.The RealAudio server incorporates an encoder whichcompresses sound into RealAudio files. The client side is aweb browser plug-in or add-on (a recent version ofInternet Explorer apparently has built-in support forRealAudio) which allows the stream of data sent from theserver to be uncompressed and output using the normal soundfacilities of the computer, such as a sound card.

A 14.4 KBps or better modem is required, and a 28.8 KBpsconnection is recommended for music-quality sound.

http://realaudio.com/.

RealAudio

A popular streaming audio technology for the Internet from RealNetworks. First introduced in 1995, a browser equipped with the RealPlayer media player or third-party RealAudio plug-in enables news, sports and other programs transmitted from RealAudio servers (RealServers) to be heard on the user's computer. Encoders and plug-ins can be downloaded from RealNetworks' website. Server software is available for a variety of platforms. RealNetworks was formerly Progressive Networks. See RealVideo.