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RealPlayer retrieves audio, video, text, animation and other media to your desktop faster by using streaming technology. The media files, or clips, you play are specially created so that they come to your desktop in much smaller pieces that are ready to be used. Because of this, you don't have to wait for a whole video file, for instance, to be downloaded before you begin to enjoy it. With RealPlayer, the video plays as your Player receives the information. The clips you watch are stored on the Internet on servers. You access them by clicking a link in the Player or on a browser page, or by going to a page that has the clip automatically set to launch for you. Media files can be compiled with different options. Those options are selected by the person providing the content you get from the Internet, not by RealPlayer or even RealNetworks. When an option is unavailable, the button or the menu option will not be accessible. Other aspects that can be different are the quality of the clip or even its availability. Each type of media file requires a different component, or plug-in, to be played by RealPlayer. RealNetworks is constantly adding new components to the Player. See Also: SureStream What is a Stream Using RealPlayer