What is buffering?
The speed at which information can be downloaded from the internet is subject to constant fluctuation. To compensate for this, and to ensure that the webcast is viewed as a steady stream even if there is some delay with the download, your computer draws down additional information to the current webcast picture you are viewing. This process is called buffering.
When a file is streamed, it is played entirely over the network. No network is 100% reliable or consistent, so the player software stores some of the stream, 10 seconds for example, before playing it. That way, it always has 10 seconds worth of material to play if theres a network problem, so the connection can be fussy for up to 8 or 9 seconds, and the viewer will never see a problem because the player just plays the buffered material while it waits for more of the stream over the network.
Players that read streaming media must first process a certain amount of the stream (at least one packet) in order to display anything. The buffer is a word for computer memory that stores digital information that will later be processed. The computer memory can either be in the form of RAM or a partial temporary file that the media player constructs from the stream. Buffers in streaming media players usually will store a certain number of seconds of information, to avoid jerky on-off playback; if the media player runs at a certain rate, and there is some latency (i.e. intermittent interruptions or slower downloading) in the stream, the display process will run more smoothly if there is a fair amount of information in the buffer before the playing begins. Of course, if the rate at which the stream comes in is too slow, there will inevitably be some interruptions in the playback, but if there is a lot stored in the buffer, the periods of play before interruptions will be long enough to
