Plugin End-of-Life

RealAudio/RealVideo format abandoned, last broadcaster drops support AI-researched

Dependency: RealPlayer / RealAudio / RealVideo streaming Wikipedia

BBC World Service dropped RealAudio in March 2011, the last major broadcaster to use the format. RealNetworks had already pivoted away from streaming, and the browser plugin died with NPAPI removal. Early streaming net art and net radio projects using .ra/.rm/.ram formats became inaccessible.

Affected Artworks

Airworld Total loss Dead

Jennifer and Kevin McCoy

Anti-Capitalist Operating System Total loss Restored

Andy Cox

being human Total loss Dead

Annie Abrahams

Bindigirl Total loss Restored

Prema Murthy

Bodies INCorporated Total loss Dead

Victoria Vesna

Document 9-1-1 Total loss Restored

tobias c. van Veen

Frustration Machine Total loss Restored

Rodrigo Volpe

Gl=v Total loss Restored

David Golumbia

Home Transfer Total loss Dead

Pat Badani

[ i want to share you - what are you doing to me? ] Total loss Dead

Igor Štromajer

In Conversation Total loss Restored

Susan Collins

Jessambola Total loss Restored

Carrie Mandel

La Fabrica Total loss Restored

Marisa Gonzalez

Learning to Love You More Total loss Dead

Miranda July

METRONOME Total loss Restored

Sebastian Seifert

multiple_dwelling Total loss Restored

Jeff Gompertz

n3xt Total loss Dead

shirin Kouladjie

nonsense Total loss Restored

ON AIR

One Night in Greenwich Village Total loss Restored

Jeannette Lambert

Oppera Teorettikka Internettikka Total loss Dead

Igor Štromajer

PAN-O-MATIC: website number .0001 Total loss Dead

stephanie rothenberg

photomontage Total loss Dead

shirin Kouladjie

Pliages et dépilages d'une pensée à étages Total loss Restored

armand behar

PlotFracture Total loss Restored

curt cloninger

polar inertia Total loss Dead

ted kane

Singing Bridges Total loss Dead

Jodi Rose

The Act Total loss Restored

Chris Helson

The Sour Thunder Total loss Dead

Mendi+Keith Obadike

THEBIGEAR - An Imaginary Soundscape Total loss Dead

francesco michi

turnbaby Total loss Dead

Chris Joseph

US Department of Art & Technology Total loss Dead

Randall Packer

Violence Total loss Restored

Wilfried Agricola de Cologne

what was he thinking about? berlin? praha? ljubljana? skopje? Total loss Dead

Igor Štromajer

When going from ___ to ___ Total loss Dead

Luis Cantillo

WNVIRUS.COM Total loss Dead

[dNASAb]

Windows Real Total loss Dead

johannes p osterhoff

Fixes & Mitigations

  • Emulation: RealMedia files can still be decoded by some desktop media players (VLC), but browser-embedded playback via the RealPlayer plugin is impossible.
  • No fix available: The streaming server infrastructure (RealServer/Helix) is gone. Live-streamed works that depended on the RealMedia streaming protocol cannot be replayed.

RealAudio (launched April 1995) was the first widely adopted streaming audio format on the web. RealVideo followed in 1997. By the early 2000s, RealPlayer was installed on hundreds of millions of computers. But the company’s aggressive installation practices and bloated software drove users away, and the format was progressively displaced — first by Flash video, then by HTML5 audio/video.

What changed

BBC World Service discontinued RealAudio in March 2011, the last major broadcaster to drop the format. The browser plugin was killed by NPAPI removal in 2015–2017. The proprietary .ra/.rm/.ram formats are now effectively orphaned — while VLC and some desktop players can still decode the files, browser-embedded playback is impossible, and the streaming server infrastructure no longer exists.

Sound artists and net radio projects used RealAudio streaming for broadcast art. Radioqualia (founded 1998) and other early net radio initiatives built their distribution on RealAudio streams. RealFlash — a hybrid format synchronizing Flash animation with RealAudio streams — was an early rich-media web format that has no modern equivalent.

Notes

RealMedia’s death was gradual rather than a single kill date. Unlike Flash (which had a definitive EOL), RealNetworks simply stopped being relevant. The company still exists but pivoted entirely away from the streaming format it created.

Links