RealNetworks, Inc. is a provider of

artificial intelligence Artificial intelligence (AI) is intelligence—perceiving, synthesizing, and inferring information—demonstrated by machine A machine is a physical system using Power (physics), power to apply Force, forces and control Motion, moveme ...

and

computer vision Computer vision is an Interdisciplinarity, interdisciplinary scientific field that deals with how computers can gain high-level understanding from digital images or videos. From the perspective of engineering, it seeks to understand and automate t ...

based products. RealNetworks was a pioneer in

Internet The Internet (or internet) is the global system of interconnected computer networks that uses the Internet protocol suite (TCP/IP) to communicate between networks and devices. It is a ''internetworking, network of networks'' that consists ...

streaming software and services. They are based in

Seattle Seattle ( ) is a port, seaport city on the West Coast of the United States. It is the county seat, seat of King County, Washington, King County, Washington (state), Washington. With a 2020 population of 737,015, it is the largest city in bo ...

, Washington,

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 U.S. state, states, a Washington, D.C., federal district, five ma ...

. The company also provides subscription-based online entertainment services and mobile entertainment and messaging services.

History

RealNetworks (then known as Progressive Networks) was founded in 1994 by Rob Glaser, an ex-

Microsoft Microsoft Corporation is an American multinational corporation, multinational technology company, technology corporation producing Software, computer software, consumer electronics, personal computers, and related services headquartered at th ...

executive, and a management team including Phil Barrett, Andy Sharpless, and Stephen Buerkle. The original goal of the company was to provide a distribution channel for politically

progressive Progressive may refer to: Politics * Progressivism, a political philosophy in support of social reform ** Progressivism in the United States, the political philosophy in the American context * Progressive realism, an American foreign policy par ...

content. It evolved into a technology venture to leverage the

as an alternative distribution medium for audio broadcasts. Progressive Networks became RealNetworks in September 1997, in advance of the company's initial public offering (IPO) in October 1997 when shares of the company started trading on

Nasdaq The Nasdaq Stock Market () (National Association of Securities Dealers Automated Quotations Stock Market) is an American stock exchange based in New York City. It is the most active stock trading venue in the US by volume, and ranked second ...

as "RNWK". RealNetworks were pioneers in the

streaming media Streaming media is multimedia that is delivered and consumed in a continuous manner from a source, with little or no intermediate storage in network elements. ''Streaming'' refers to the delivery method of content, rather than the content i ...

markets and broadcast one of the earlier audio events over the Internet, a baseball game between the

New York Yankees The New York Yankees are an American professional baseball team based in the New York City borough of the Bronx. The Yankees compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) East division. They are one o ...

and

Seattle Mariners The Seattle Mariners are an American professional baseball team based in Seattle. They compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) West division. The team joined the American League as an expansion team ...

on September 5, 1995. They announced streaming video technology in 1997. According to some accounts, by 2000 more than 85% of streaming content on the Internet was in the Real format. Despite this success, problems arose because RealNetworks's primary business model depended upon the sale of streaming media server software, and Microsoft and

Apple An apple is an edible fruit produced by an apple tree (''Malus domestica''). Apple trees are cultivated worldwide and are the most widely grown species in the genus '' Malus''. The tree originated in Central Asia, where its wild ances ...

were giving those products away. As servers from Microsoft and Apple became more capable, Real's server sales inevitably eroded. In '' RealNetworks, Inc. v. Streambox, Inc.'' in January 2000, RealNetworks filed an injunction against Streambox, Inc. regarding the that company's product designed to convert Real Audio (.rm) formatted files to other formats. On December 4, 2001, the company was to launch the first coordinated effort to sell and deliver music from major record labels over the Internet, part of a broader initiative by the company to develop subscription Internet services aimed at Web users with fast Internet connections. In 2002, a

strategic alliance A strategic alliance (also see strategic partnership) is an agreement between two or more parties to pursue a set of agreed upon objectives needed while remaining independent organizations. The alliance is a cooperation or collaboration which aim ...

was formed between RealNetworks and

Sony Corporation , commonly stylized as SONY, is a Japanese multinational conglomerate corporation headquartered in Minato, Tokyo, Japan. As a major technology company, it operates as one of the world's largest manufacturers of consumer and professional ...

to expand collaboration. In October 2005,

agreed to pay RealNetworks $460 million to settle an antitrust lawsuit. In August 2003, RealNetworks acquired Listen.com's Rhapsody music service, and renamed it ''RealRhapsody''. It offered streaming music downloads for a monthly fee. In January 2004, RealNetworks announced the

RealPlayer Music Store Napster is a music streaming service based in Seattle, Washington. Napster started as an audio search engine named Aladdin that was purchased by Listen.com in May 2001 and became the basis for its new streaming service, called Rhapsody, that lau ...

, featuring

digital rights management Digital rights management (DRM) is the management of legal access to digital content. Various tools or technological protection measures (TPM) such as access control technologies can restrict the use of proprietary hardware and copyrighted work ...

(DRM) restricted music in the AAC file format. After some initial tries to push their own DRM scheme (named ''Helix DRM'') onto all device manufacturers with the Creative Zen Xtra and the Sansa e200r as the only existing compliant devices, they sparked controversy by introducing a technology called

Harmony In music, harmony is the process by which individual sounds are joined together or composed into whole units or compositions. Often, the term harmony refers to simultaneously occurring frequencies, pitches ( tones, notes), or chords. Howev ...

that allowed their music to play on

iPod The iPod is a discontinued series of portable media players and multi-purpose mobile devices designed and marketed by Apple Inc. The first version was released on October 23, 2001, about months after the Macintosh version of iTunes ...

s as well as Microsoft Windows Media Audio DRM-equipped devices using a "wrapper" that would convert Helix DRM into the two other target DRM schemes. The domain ''real.com'' attracted at least 67 million visitors annually by 2008, according to a Compete.com study. On April 6, 2010, Rhapsody was spun off from RealNetworks. In July 2013, RealNetworks acquired

Slingo Slingo is an online single and multi-player game that combines elements of slots and bingo (the name is a portmanteau of the two games). The game was created by New Jersey real estate developer, Sal Falciglia Sr. in 1994, who also founded the comp ...

for $15.6 million. The company introduced a mobile phone app called Listen in April 2014 that plays custom ringtones to those calling the user's phone. Notable RealNetworks employees have included Alex Alben; the first Chief Privacy Officer of

Washington State Washington (), officially the State of Washington, is a state in the Pacific Northwest region of the Western United States. Named for George Washington—the first U.S. president—the state was formed from the western part of the Washingto ...

; Tony Fadell, the inventor of the

; musician

Daniel House Daniel House may refer to: * Daniel House (musician) (born 1961), American musician and entrepreneur *Daniel House (Knoxville, Tennessee), historic U.S. home See also * Danuel House (born 1993), American basketball player *Danielle House Danielle ...

; and

Philip Rosedale Philip Rosedale (born September 29, 1968) is an American entrepreneur who founded Linden Lab, which develops and hosts the virtual world '' Second Life''. Biography Early life Rosedale was born in San Diego, California, in 1968. He took an ...

, the founder of Linden Lab.

Headquarters

RealNetworks has its headquarters in Seattle, Washington, in the Home Plate Center building in SoDo across from T-Mobile Park, sharing the building with local television station

KING-TV KING-TV (channel 5) is a television station in Seattle, Washington, United States, affiliated with NBC. It is owned by Tegna Inc. alongside Everett-licensed independent station KONG (channel 16). Both stations share studios at the Home Pl ...

and Logic 20/20 Consulting.

Products and services

SAFR

Launched by RealNetworks on July 17, 2018, SAFR – Secure Accurate Facial Recognition, is a machine learning facial recognition platform. The SAFR platform was updated in 2020 with COVID-19 response features, including the ability to detect whether a person is wearing a mask and identify people wearing masks with 98.85 percent accuracy. On April 27, 2021, SAFR received a grant from the US Air Force to develop its AI-powered analytics for rescue missions, perimeter protection and domestic search operations.

Kontxt

In 2017, RealNetworks launched Kontxt, a product that offers management of text messaging in mobile networks. It identifies the content of the message and sorts it into categories to determine which ones are more important, and prioritize message delivery. In March 2021, RealNetworks unveiled KONTXT for Voice to identify and stop scam robocalls.

RealTimes (formerly RealPlayer Cloud)

RealNetworks on September 24, 2013, launched RealPlayer Cloud, a service that adds the ability to share videos recorded on smartphones and tablets. RealPlayer Cloud ties into the existing RealPlayer; however, it also has a Web app and apps for Android, iOS and Roku. The service has 2GB of free cloud storage and more storage for a monthly fee. It was renamed to RealTimes on May 19, 2015, with a new focus on creating and sharing "Stories"—video collages of users' personal photos and videos, set to background music.

GameHouse

RealNetworks entered the computer game market in October 2001 with RealArcade, a PC game distribution application that allows users to play casual video games for free for 60 minutes, then decide if they want to purchase it. Many of the games were developed by GameHouse, which RealNetworks acquired for $35.6 million in 2004. In 2010, RealNetworks re-branded its games division under the name Gamehouse. It began focusing on social games, such as Facebook applets, and in 2013 acquired casual casino games company, Slingo, for $15.6 million.

RealDVD

On September 30, 2008, RealNetworks launched a new product called RealDVD. The software allows any user to save a copy of a DVD movie they own. The company was later found to have violated the

Digital Millennium Copyright Act The Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) is a 1998 United States copyright law that implements two 1996 treaties of the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO). It criminalizes production and dissemination of technology, devices, or ...

and RealNetworks' contract with the DVD Copy Control Association, as the software also allowed anyone to save a movie they do not legally own. (See '' RealNetworks, Inc. v. DVD Copy Control Ass'n, Inc.''). The product's distribution was barred by a court injunction.

Real Alternative

Real Alternative is a discontinued software bundle that allows users to play

RealMedia RealMedia is a proprietary multimedia container format created by RealNetworks with the filename extension . RealMedia is generally used in conjunction with RealVideo and RealAudio, while also being used for streaming content over the Internet ...

files without installing RealPlayer. The last version, 2.02, was released on February 19, 2010. It included Media Player Classic. Beginning in 2010, RealNetworks sued Hilbrand Edskes, a 26-year-old Dutch webmaster for having inserted

hyperlink In computing, a hyperlink, or simply a link, is a digital reference to data that the user can follow or be guided by clicking or tapping. A hyperlink points to a whole document or to a specific element within a document. Hypertext is text ...

s to Real Alternative on his site www.codecpack.nl. RealNetworks alleges that Real Alternative is a reverse engineered package. In November 2011, RealNetworks' case against Edskes was dismissed and RealNetworks was ordered to pay him €48,000 in damages. Details of the case and judgement have been published. The case was reopened in 2013, when further proof showed that Edskes was after all involved in creating and uploading Real Alternative.

Helix

Helix is a suite of streaming media software and services intended for digital TV set-top boxes, mobile devices, as well as QuickTime, Flash and other programs. It includes the Helix open-source code and the Helix Universal Server, which hosts, distributes and manages digital rights for multimedia content. Helix competes with the Windows Media 9 Series from Microsoft, but has a greater emphasis on open-source. Helix was announced in July 2002. Support for mobile devices was added in November 2005. It was discontinued in October 2014.

Subscription services

In 2000, one of the initial products, the

download manager A download manager is a software tool that manages the download, downloading of computer file, files from the Internet, which may be built: into a Web browser, or as a, usually more sophisticated Application software, program. Data transmission ...

RealDownload, was already used for pushing small software, such as games, to subscribers' computers. On top of the subscription for RealDownload and using its RealVideo streaming technology, a service called GoldPass, including unlimited access for video snippets from ABC and movie previews, was offered to registered users for a monthly $10 fee. More content was added through deals with CBS for the reality show ''

Big Brother Big Brother may refer to: * Big Brother (''Nineteen Eighty-Four''), a character from George Orwell's novel ''Nineteen Eighty-Four'' ** Authoritarian personality, any omnipresent figure representing oppressive control ** Big Brother Awards, a sat ...

'' and NBA basketball.

Other products and technologies

RealAudio RealAudio, or also spelled as Real Audio is a proprietary audio format developed by RealNetworks and first released in April 1995. It uses a variety of audio codecs, ranging from low-bitrate formats that can be used over dialup modems, to high-fi ...

, a compressed audio format * RealDownloader, a download manager *

RealPlayer RealPlayer, formerly RealAudio Player, RealOne Player and RealPlayer G2, is a cross-platform media player (software), media player app, developed by RealNetworks. The media player is compatible with numerous container file formats of the multime ...

, a media player * RealVideo, a compressed video format * Rinse, a digital music library cleanup tool * Unifi, a personal cloud media service * Mobile entertainment and messaging services for mobile carriers

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Realnetworks Entertainment companies of the United States Streaming software Software companies based in Seattle Mass media companies established in 1994 Software companies established in 1994 American companies established in 1994 1994 establishments in Washington (state) Companies listed on the Nasdaq Software companies of the United States