The client application is written in ActionScript™ and compiles to a SWF file. The server application is written in Server-Side ActionScript (which is like ActionScript 1.0, but runs on the server, rather than on the client). A media application usually has recorded or live audio and video that it streams from server to client, client to server, or server to server.
A typical Adobe Media Server application has these parts:
Client
The client displays a user interface, such as controls to start, stop, or pause a video. The client can run in Flash Player, Adobe AIR, or Flash Lite 3. You can develop clients with Adobe Flash Professional, Adobe Flash Builder, or the Flex SDK. You can also use prebuilt clients. Adobe recommends using a player that is based on OSMF (Open Source Media Framework), such as Strobe Media Playback.
Client-side ActionScript
The client contains ActionScript code that handles user interaction and connects to the server. Adobe Media Server 3 and later support ActionScript 3.0, ActionScript 2.0, and ActionScript 1.0.
Video or audio files
Many media applications stream recorded audio or video from the server to clients or between clients. Adobe Media Server supports playback of a variety of stream formats, including Flash Video (FLV), MPEG-3 (MP3), MPEG-4 (MP4 and F4V), and RAW.
Camera or microphone
You can use Flash Media Live Encoder to stream live video or audio to the server. You can also create your own client that captures live audio and video. In both cases, you need a camera and a microphone to capture the video and audio.
Server-Side ActionScript
Most applications use Server-Side ActionScript code written in a file with the suffix .asc, called an ActionScript Communication File. The file is named either main.asc, or myApplication.asc. You can use server-side code to control access to applications, define what happens when users connect and disconnect, create playlists, connect to external data sources, and so on.
Adobe Media Server installs with four server-side applications (also called streaming services): live, vod, livepkgr, and multicast. Each service provides a different type of streaming.
