Mostly every media player is can receive a stream. Needed is the complete URL of the stream following the syntax:

http://servername:port/mountpoint

• servername is the domainname or the IP address of the streaming server
• port is the port on the server where the streaming service is running
• mountpoint is the name given to the stream and its format file type

As an example, the result could be similar to:

http://www.streambox.org:8000/stream.ogg

http://83.137.99.39:8000/mystream.mp3

These are the only informations you need to receive a stream!

Depending on the format (the filetype, usually .mp3 or .ogg) of the stream itself, your media player must have the same codectype installed or it won't be able to "translate" the stream audio data into audio output.

While the .mp3 format codec is common to all media players, still some do not use the .ogg codec by default.

If you face this problem, you can find a complete list of supported software and media player specific downloads at the Vorbis homepage.

Because of the enormous amount of media player available for any Operating System we will limit the following description to the most popular ones. If you do not want to use any of the following, please refer to your favourite media player's homepage for further informations.

Listening to a stream with xmms is quickly done, clicking ctrl + l or right mouse click on the main window, selecting "play":

There you can fill with the URL of your stream, following the http://servername:port/mountpoint syntax, and... enjoy listening!

Other media players for GNU/Linux have a very similar command sequence stream listening.

This player can be used to listen to streams clicking the Advanced menu option and then selecting Open Stream. You will then need to type the desired URL into the input box, following the http://servername:port/mountpoint syntax.

It is very simple to install the ogg/Vorbis codecs to your Mac: this enables itunes and every QuickTime based application to reproduce ogg files. Download the last version of the QuickTime components tool from the Xiph.org homepage.

Listening to a stream under Microsoft is simply done using Winamp, a media player family home to the Shoutcast streaming server, and which have been, in the past, a reference for every media player. Winamp integrates a lot of audio formats, also the ogg/Vorbis codecs are alreary shipped with the program. You can download Winamp at the Winamp homepage. The GNU/Linux Xmms is very similar to Winamp, so you can listen to a stream in the same way: clicking ctrl + l or right mouse click on the main window, selecting "play". In the new window, you can fill with the URL of your stream, following the http://servername:port/mountpoint syntax.

To open the stream in Windows Media Player, right click with the mouse anywhere on the player and select Open URL. This will bring up a little window where you will needed to enter the URL following the http://servername:port/mountpoint syntax.

You can download a self-installing ogg/Vorbis codec for Windows media player, and all Direct Show based applications, at the illiminable homepage.