Kernel streaming

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Kernel Streaming is a broad term for the services that support kernel-mode processing of streamed data. It enables efficient real-time streaming for multimedia devices such as sound cards and TV tuner cards. (From Microsoft's website)

Many music players' software support kernel streaming, including foobar2000 natively and Winamp through third-party add-ons. Compared to the regular "wave out method" in Microsoft Windows, kernel streaming requires less CPU time. This comes at the expense of bypassing the Windows volume control. One popular use of kernel streaming is "online broadcasting," via which one can broadcast a song through the internet to others.

Winamp Kernel Streaming Plugin