What is Multimedia Streaming

The concept of multimedia streaming gives the end-users the ability to playback various multimedia contents while they are still being downloaded from the provider. This provides a major advantage in which users do not need to wait for the whole media clips to be downloaded; it also reduces the time of delivery and allows their bandwidth to be efficiently used for other purposes. In this chapter, we review the advantages, limitations and challenges faced by current peer-to-peer approaches in multimedia streaming, taking a close look at the architectures, protocols, service quality, and case studies. Our analysis reveals that, when placed in the context of mobile systems, peer-to-peer streaming is still at its infancy. We illustrate shortcomings and provide an outlook for mobile peer-to-peer streaming, highlighting the most pressing research issues. The reader will appreciate the current state-of-the-art of this remarkable technology and ways in which it may become a reality.