Nullsoft Streaming Video
Encyclopedia
Nullsoft Streaming Video (NSV) is a media container
designed for streaming video
content over the internet. NSV was developed by Nullsoft
, the makers of Winamp
.
The NSV format is another example of streaming video formats, offered by various companies and media players. Windows Media
, QuickTime
video, RealAudio
and RealVideo
streams are just a few examples of these, and each have their benefits and shortcomings.
One of the shortfalls of most streaming formats often comes from the difficulty in finding streams, or at least some form of directory service; and in some cases, none are readily available to the public at all.
With Nullsoft's SHOUTcast
service, a media streaming and directory system, the NSV format has become popular, along with SHOUTcast's listings of Streaming Audio, which reach well into the thousands. The "Media Library" offers integrated listings of both audio and video streams, returned directly from the SHOUTcast service.
while working at Nullsoft
.
Originally designed as a demonstration of the potential that newly developed streaming technology Ultravox
could offer, it has since become an accepted format for AOL streaming media, with many promotional videos available on both Winamp.com and the AOL website.
Container format
A container or wrapper format is a meta-file format whose specification describes how different data elements and metadata coexist in a computer file....
designed for streaming video
Streaming media
Streaming media is multimedia that is constantly received by and presented to an end-user while being delivered by a streaming provider.The term "presented" is used in this article in a general sense that includes audio or video playback. The name refers to the delivery method of the medium rather...
content over the internet. NSV was developed by Nullsoft
Nullsoft
Nullsoft, Inc. is a software house founded in Sedona, Arizona in 1997 by Justin Frankel. Its most known products include the Winamp media player and the SHOUTcast MP3 streaming media server. In recent years, their open source installer system, NSIS, has also risen in popularity as a widely used...
, the makers of Winamp
Winamp
Winamp is a media player for Windows-based PCs and Android devices, written by Nullsoft, now a subsidiary of AOL. It is proprietary freeware/shareware, multi-format, extensible with plug-ins and skins, and is noted for its graphical sound visualization, playlist, and media library features.Winamp...
.
The NSV format is another example of streaming video formats, offered by various companies and media players. Windows Media
Windows Media
Windows Media is a multimedia framework for media creation and distribution for Microsoft Windows. It consists of a software development kit with several application programming interfaces and a number of prebuilt technologies, and is the replacement of NetShow technologies.The Windows Media SDK...
, QuickTime
QuickTime
QuickTime is an extensible proprietary multimedia framework developed by Apple Inc., capable of handling various formats of digital video, picture, sound, panoramic images, and interactivity. The classic version of QuickTime is available for Windows XP and later, as well as Mac OS X Leopard and...
video, RealAudio
RealAudio
RealAudio is a proprietary audio format developed by RealNetworks and first released in April 1995. It uses a variety of audio codecs, ranging from low-bitrate formats that can be used over dialup modems, to high-fidelity formats for music. It can also be used as a streaming audio format, that is...
and RealVideo
RealVideo
RealVideo is a suite of proprietary video compression formats developed by RealNetworks – the specific format changes with the version. It was first released in 1997 and is at version 10. RealVideo is supported on many platforms, including Windows, Mac, Linux, Solaris, and several mobile...
streams are just a few examples of these, and each have their benefits and shortcomings.
One of the shortfalls of most streaming formats often comes from the difficulty in finding streams, or at least some form of directory service; and in some cases, none are readily available to the public at all.
With Nullsoft's SHOUTcast
SHOUTcast
SHOUTcast is cross-platform proprietary software for streaming media over the Internet. The software, developed by Nullsoft , allows digital audio content, primarily in MP3 or HE-AAC format, to be broadcast to and from media player software, enabling the creation of Internet radio "stations"...
service, a media streaming and directory system, the NSV format has become popular, along with SHOUTcast's listings of Streaming Audio, which reach well into the thousands. The "Media Library" offers integrated listings of both audio and video streams, returned directly from the SHOUTcast service.
History
NSV was created in late 2002/early 2003 by Justin FrankelJustin Frankel
Justin Frankel is an American computer programmer best known for his work on the Winamp media player application and for inventing the gnutella peer-to-peer network...
while working at Nullsoft
Nullsoft
Nullsoft, Inc. is a software house founded in Sedona, Arizona in 1997 by Justin Frankel. Its most known products include the Winamp media player and the SHOUTcast MP3 streaming media server. In recent years, their open source installer system, NSIS, has also risen in popularity as a widely used...
.
Originally designed as a demonstration of the potential that newly developed streaming technology Ultravox
Ultravox (software)
Ultravox or Ultravox Media On Demand Server , is a streaming video project by AOL. The goal is to create something like SHOUTcast but for routers, so that the data is handled much better, can handle more users efficiently, and channel changing is much faster.- Marketing :Certain streams made...
could offer, it has since become an accepted format for AOL streaming media, with many promotional videos available on both Winamp.com and the AOL website.
Players
Current media players that support the Nullsoft Video format are:- K-Multimedia PlayerK-Multimedia PlayerK-Multimedia Player is a media player software for Microsoft Windows which can play a large number of formats including VCD, DVD, AVI, MKV, Ogg, OGM, 3GP, MPEG-1/2/4, WMV, RealMedia, FLV and QuickTime...
- MPlayerMPlayerMPlayer is a free and open source media player. The program is available for all major operating systems, including Linux and other Unix-like systems, Microsoft Windows and Mac OS X. Versions for OS/2, Syllable, AmigaOS and MorphOS are also available. The Windows version works, with some minor...
- RealPlayerRealPlayerRealPlayer is a cross-platform media player by RealNetworks that plays a number of multimedia formats including MP3, MPEG-4, QuickTime, Windows Media, and multiple versions of proprietary RealAudio and RealVideo formats.-History:...
Plug-In - http://rnsv.hit.bg - VLCVLC media playerVLC media player is a free and open source media player and multimedia framework written by the VideoLAN project.VLC is a portable multimedia player, encoder, and streamer supporting many audio and video codecs and file formats as well as DVDs, VCDs, and various streaming protocols. It is able to...
(with VP6VP6On2 TrueMotion VP6 is a proprietary lossy video compression format and video codec. It is an incarnation of the TrueMotion video codec, a series of video codecs developed by On2 Technologies. This codec is commonly used by Adobe Flash, Flash Video, and JavaFX media files.- Overview :The VP6 codec...
support since 0.8.6) - WinampWinampWinamp is a media player for Windows-based PCs and Android devices, written by Nullsoft, now a subsidiary of AOL. It is proprietary freeware/shareware, multi-format, extensible with plug-ins and skins, and is noted for its graphical sound visualization, playlist, and media library features.Winamp...
- XineXinexine is a multimedia playback engine for Unix-like operating systems released under the GNU General Public License. xine is built around a shared library that supports different frontend player applications. Another important feature of xine is the ability to manually correct the synchronization...
External links
- www.nullsoft.com - Official Nullsoft Video Software Download Site
- forums.winamp.com/forumdisplay.php?forumid=152 - Official Nullsoft Video Forum
- http://ultravox.aol.com/NSVFormat.rtf - NSV Format specification and documentation
- Sourceforge.net Project Page: Nsv Lib - Unofficial Open Source - cross Platform, in development NSV Library in C++