live streaming

IPA/lˈaɪv stɹˈiːmɪŋ/
IPA/lˈaɪv stɹˈiːmɪŋ/

live streaming — noun

1. a way of sending video or sound over the internet so that people can watch or li

1.nounB1
Definition

a way of sending video or sound over the internet so that people can watch or listen to it at the exact moment it is happening, without any delay

Example

Yuki watched a live streaming of the cherry blossom festival from her apartment in Taipei.

live streaming + of + [event]

Rohan's fitness channel uses live streaming to share workout routines with people around the world.

use live streaming to [purpose]

Common collocations
  • live streaming platform
  • live streaming service
  • live streaming event
  • live streaming video
  • live streaming technology
  • watch live streaming
  • use live streaming
  • offer live streaming
  • provide live streaming
  • live streaming of a concert
  • live streaming of a game
  • live streaming session
Synonyms
  • webcast

    more formal, typically used for corporate or media-organised events rather than personal creator content

  • livestream

    variant spelling as one word; identical in meaning and usage

  • broadcasting

    broader term that includes traditional TV and radio, not limited to internet transmission

Grammar Patterns

live streaming + of + [event/activity]

live streaming + [noun] (as modifier)

Usage Note

Common as a modifier before nouns such as platform, service, or event. In informal conversation, often shortened to streaming.

Common Mistakes

I watched a live streaming about cooking last night.
I watched a live stream about cooking last night.
Use live stream (countable noun) for a single broadcast event; live streaming is the general activity.

Word family

Synonym discussion

Sense: noun/1

Live streaming refers specifically to video or audio sent over the internet in real time. Webcast is a more formal term that usually describes a professionally produced online broadcast, such as a company's annual meeting or a conference keynote. Broadcast has a much wider scope — it covers TV, radio, and any transmission to an audience, regardless of medium or delay. Livestream is a modern one-word spelling variant of live streaming and is interchangeable in most contexts. For example, a teenager talking to followers on a game platform does live streaming or a livestream, not a webcast; a news organisation transmitting a press conference might call it a webcast or a live broadcast depending on how formal they want to sound.

live streaming ↗webcast ↗broadcast ↗livestream ↗

Common collocations

Nouns

Phrases

  • live streaming platform
  • live streaming service
  • live streaming session

Prepositions

Etymology

Old EnglishEnglish (theatre/radio)English (computing)

The term combines live (from Old English lif, meaning 'living, alive' — used since the early 1900s to describe real-time radio and TV performance) with streaming (from Old English streám, adopted in computing during the 1990s to describe continuous transmission of data). The compound live streaming emerged with broadband internet in the early 2000s and became common as video-sharing platforms grew after 2010.

First known use

1996

1996, in the meaning defined above