(1) For hardware that stores music and videos for home theaters, see
digital media server and
Windows Media Center.
(2) Software that makes audio and video files in the computer available on the network for viewing via Apple TV, Roku and other media hubs. Plex provides both media server and player. The server runs in the computer and the media player runs in the media hub or in a smart TV. The Apple TV media hub uses iTunes in a computer as the media server. See
Plex,
Apple TV,
digital media hub and
digital media server.
Bonjour, UPnP and DAAP
The protocols used by media servers for discovering files are typically Bonjour and UPnP. For example, iTunes uses Bonjour to discover and DAAP to share, while Windows Media Player uses UPnP and Windows Media Connect. See
Bonjour,
DAAP,
UPnP,
Windows Media Connect and
Firefly.
(3) A computer in the cloud that stores multimedia files for downloading.
(4) A computer system in an IP telephony network that transmits dial tones, busy signals and announcements such as "the number you have called is no longer in service." The media server can be a separate unit or part of a softswitch (media gateway controller). See
IP telephony.