Online Media has certainly become more convenient over the last few years, with many of the files formats available for media files these days able to be read immediately online - instead of waiting to download a large file, like in timespast. There are many various online streaming media formats to pick from throughout the internet. Some of these include online streaming media formats for audio files, as well as videos that can be seen immediately over the internet. Of course, different formats will operate better on varying types of computers and connections.

One format is that of Windows Media. Established by Microsoft (obviously), this format is able to be read by Microsoft Media Player programs. Windows Media Audio is most commonly used for audio programs, while Windows Media Video is used for streaming video.

Apple’s QuickTime is another one of the other popular formats for online streaming media. Files that can be read on QuickTime are able to be easily streamed online. While it can take a bit of time to load an average file under this format, the advantage here is that there will be no interruptions in stream under this format. Also, data will not be saved onto the hard drive unless chosen to by the user.

The MPEG file format, is one of the most popular internet streaming media formats available for video files. The three different formats in the MPEG system are as follows: MPEG-1 is a standard compression format for video files, MPEG-2 (which can be used for ATSC, ISDB and digital satellite/cable transmission), and MPEG-4 which is known to be the highest quality format and it is used to support three dimensional features.

Real Media files are also popular among web streaming media formats. They are read easily by a Real Media Player. 64Kb and 256Kb files are available in this format with the 256Kb format being of higher quality.

Of course, MP3 files can be streamed online. This is quite popular among websites that use larger levels of information. The number of kilobits per second is often used in streaming MP3 formats. As an example, a 56kbps file would work best for a 56K modem. A 128kbps file will be better-suited for DSL connections, however would be a larger file to download for streaming.

Well, there’s a quick peek at the online streaming media formats available. Of course, some will have more data to download and will have varying quality levels, so one shoud always consider the speed of their connection when choosing the online media format that will be read.