What was covered in this overview are just some of the most popular streaming technologies, those that brought something new in the field. Many other exist and can be categorized in one of the listed category, but are less known or less effective.

The need of standardization comes logically. When client encounters multimedia file for the first time, he would usually have to download and install the viewer for the specified format. If he has already downloaded and installed viewer for some other similar multimedia format, this won't help him. He will not be able to view the new file type.

Unless of course, that both technologies are supporting the (same) standard. The standardization should cover two fields - compression algorithm and transportation protocol.

Compression standards have been in use for some time now, and have much longer history then transportation ones. Both ITU (International Telecommunication Union) and ISO (International Standardization Organization) have been active in this field for many years.

Situation is a bit different with transportation protocols of the newly appeared streaming systems.

That is why the Real Time Streaming Protocol is introduced by two leading firms in the field - Progressive Networks and Netscape Communications, and is supported by over 40 firms.