Editing Real-Time Streaming Protocol (section)

{{Short description|Computer network protocol}}
{{distinguish|Rapid Spanning Tree Protocol|Real-Time Messaging Protocol}}

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{{Infobox networking protocol
| title        = Real Time Streaming Protocol
| logo         = 
| logo alt     = 
| image        = 
| image alt    = 
| caption      = 
| is stack     = No
| abbreviation = RTSP
| purpose      = [[Internet streaming]]
| developer    = [[RealNetworks]], [[Netscape]], [[Columbia University]]
| date         = {{Start date and age|1998|04|  }}<!--Fill in: Year (4 digits), month and day (2 digits)-->
| based on     = 
| influenced   = 
| osilayer     = [[Application layer]] (7)
| ports        = {{ubl|554/TCP|554/UDP}}
| rfcs         = {{IETF RFC|2326|7826}}
| hardware     = 
}}

The '''Real-Time Streaming Protocol''' ('''RTSP''') is an [[Application layer|application-level]] network [[communications protocol|protocol]] designed for [[multiplexing]] and [[Network packet#MPEG packetized stream|packetizing]] [[multimedia]] transport streams (such as [[interactive media]], [[video]] and [[Digital audio|audio]]) over a suitable [[transport protocol]]. RTSP is used in entertainment and communications systems to control [[streaming media]] [[Web server|server]]s. The protocol is used for establishing and controlling media sessions between endpoints. Clients of media servers issue commands such as ''play'', ''record'' and ''pause'', to facilitate real-time control of the media streaming from the server to a client ([[video on demand]]) or from a client to the server ([[voice recording]]).