QuickTime and Darwin Streaming Server support two primary transport methods for streaming:

1. RTSP/RTP streams use standard IETF streaming protocols to stream video and audio to clients. The Streaming Server supports QuickTime .mov, MPEG-4 .mp4 and 3G .3gp files for on-demand streaming. In addition, the Streaming Server can reflect live streams and playlists using Session Description Protocol .sdp files. Linking to RTSP/RTP streams is described in the Embedding RTSP/RTP Streams section below
2. MP3 streams used the Shoutcast protocol for streaming mp3 files over http. The Streaming Server supports streaming MP3 playlists from locally stored MP3 files and reflecting live MP3 streams from Shoutcast compatible webcasting software. Linking to MP3 playlists and live MP3 webcasts is described in Linking to mp3 streams below.