Buffer (v)

Also, buffering, to buffer, etc. Congestion, either on a network or at the central processor of a device, may cause the device to buffer. Describes a situation which occurs when a streaming media player is saving portions of a streaming media file to local storage for playback. Most streaming media players buffer a small percentage of a streaming media presentation before beginning to play it. Buffering also may occur in the middle of a presentation, when available bandwidth does not match the presentation's required bandwidth. Adaptive bitrate encoding and decoding, for instance, seeks to eliminate buffering.