RealAudio

RealAudio is set of proprietary audio formats, and related technologies, developed by RealNetworks, Inc. (known as Progressive Networks until 1997).

The term "RealAudio" has a number of subtly-different meanings. This article is mainly about the older file formats that begin with the signature ".ra". For more information, see RealMedia.

Identification
The older RealAudio formats begin with bytes. The first three bytes are ASCII "".

See RealMedia for the newer RealMedia-based formats.

Specifications

 * MultiMediaWiki page for RealMedia, includes information about the Real Audio format

Software

 * VLC

Sample files

 * https://samples.ffmpeg.org/real/RA/

Links

 * real.com What is Streaming Media and how does it work?
 * Article by former RealNetworks employee about why they did stuff consumers hated (from archive.org)
 * RealAudio, AAC and Archivy
 * RealAudio

See also RealMedia.