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ASF content is designed to be streamed from a Windows Media server to a Microsoft Windows Media Player client. The Windows Media server and Windows Media Player client can be used either on the Internet or an intranet, and they can be separated by a firewall. As a content creator, your first concern is the amount of network bandwidth available for content delivery.
Bandwidth and bit rate are essentially the same thing in terms of streaming ASF content. Bandwidth often is used to describe the size of a network, and bit rate is used to describe the rate at which the ASF content is delivered. Content created to stream over a network with a 28.8 kilobits per second (Kbps) bandwidth cannot stream at more than 28.8 Kbps. This means that no more than 28,800 bits of information are traveling across the network each second. A user cannot receive content streamed at a higher bandwidth than the network connection supports.
Intranets can handle content that streams at a much higher bit rate than on the Internet. In the intranet environment, the network administrator or the network bandwidth enforces restrictions on the available bandwidth for content streaming. The network administrator can set the Windows Media server to restrict the amount of information that it streams. This restriction keeps the server, during periods of high use, from streaming so much information that it slows down the overall flow of information on the network. If the network administrator does not set a limit on the amount of information that a Windows Media server can stream, the network bandwidth is the limiting factor for content delivery.