The playing of media whilst it is still being downloaded. Playback commences only when enough data has been downloaded to sustain playback of the full video without any loss of quality. This differs from true streaming. It has the advantage of "almost" eliminating buffering, although disadvantage of delaying the start of playback.

A type of streaming in which the audio or video file begins to play after a certain minimum amount of data has been transferred, rather than requiring the entire file to be downloaded before playback starts.

a technique for downloading Internet video and/or audio so that they can be viewed while they are transferring to a computer, in between downloading and streaming without requiring a special streaming server.

QuickTime supports progressive downloads of movies, which allow part of a movie to be displayed before all of its data has been received over a network or other slow link. QuickTime is able to instantiate the movie and start playing it before the entire file has arrived. This is known as Fast-Start movie playback.

The process of transmitting a file from a server to a client computer, usually playing back as it is received.

A method of delivering audio/video data over the internet that involves playing the downloaded portion of a file while the download is still in progress.

An http "streaming" technology where media is served from a standard Web server and downloaded to the client machine. Depending on the preparation of the files, you might be able to begin playing the content before the download is complete, but you can not get to the very end of the file until it is downloaded.

video starts to play immediately while the file downloads to your temporary Internet files folder.

Progressive downloads are an HTTP/FTP-based delivery method in which the entire video is downloaded to the user's machine. In a progressive download, lost packets are retransmitted until they are received, providing consistently high quality from download to download. Because they rely on the same protocol as Web pages for delivery, they are less likely to encounter problems with firewalls than streaming downloads. The movie doesn't need to be downloaded entirely to start watching it, so it can appear as if it were a streaming file on a fast enough connection. Progressive downloads also have disadvantages. They can't be broadcast, multicast, or transmit live feeds. The user can't jump ahead to different parts of the movie until it has been downloaded. Finally, limiting distribution or modification of your movie can be very difficult, as the user has the option to save a copy locally.

Also known as ‘pseudo-streamingÂâ€(tm), progressive download allows end-users to experience media accessed via a network such as the Internet, while the media file is still in the process of downloading; as opposed to downloadable media, which cannot be played back until the entire file is received. Unlike true streaming, progressive download can leave a cached copy of the media file on the clientÂâ€(tm)s computer. Progressive download is also called ‘HTTP streamingÂâ€(tm) because Web server software using standard protocols (HTTP servers) can deliver progressive download files, unlike true streaming, which takes advantage of the special protocols used by media server software to adjust transmission to match the actual available bandwidth. Transport problems often occur when downloading larger files. Brief interruptions during the file download can often result in the media player ‘freezing upÂâ€(tm) and the file download being lost or corrupted. Progressive downloads of some newer video formats prevent viewers from skipping ahead or fully interacting with the media presentation.