


For instance, if delivery is needed on a low bandwidth connection (like the old dial-up modem days) then a low bitrate can be used to create files small enough to download easily. The advantage of this is that you can encode audio to suite the application in question. The RealAudio format makes it possible to encode audio data in a variety of bitrates for downloading. There are quite a few audio codecs that can be used to compress audio making it a flexible system. Internet radio stations can use the RealAudio format to deliver broadcasts in real-time (streaming music). Although the RealAudio format isn't as popular as it once was, it's still a very flexible audio scheme that can be used for a variety of applications. and is a propriety audio format - the first public version was released in 1995. The RealAudio format was originally developed by RealNetworks, Inc.
