How did streaming technology replace physical media?

The answer

Streaming works by sending compressed audio/video data in small continuous packets that are decoded and played in real time, rather than downloading entire files first. Adaptive bitrate streaming automatically adjusts video quality based on your internet speed. Netflix transitioned from DVD-by-mail to streaming in 2007, and by 2024 streaming accounted for over 40% of all U.S. TV viewing time. Modern video codecs like AV1 compress 4K video so efficiently that a two-hour film might use only 7 GB of data - versus 100 GB for an uncompressed Blu-ray.