Streaming is watching or listening over the internet without saving the file first. Streaming services, stream a film, streaming live.
Nothing is kept, which is the whole point and the whole risk — a film you streamed can vanish from the service and you own nothing. In British schools streaming means dividing pupils by ability, which is a separate and much argued-about sense.
1nounstreamingWatching or listening over the internet without saving the file.
“Most people now watch films through streaming rather than on DVD.”
streaming is a way of watching.
Stream plus -ing, from Old English stream. The technical sense dates from the 1990s.
Middle English
stremyng
English, today
streaming
From Middle English stremyng, stremynge, stremande, equivalent to stream + -ing.
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA