Cause

• Websites with embedded music send the audio files to your computer in small, Internet-friendly chunks of data known as packets. As the embedded song plays, the website sends a constant stream of packets to your computer; encoded information inside the packets, known as the packet header, allows your computer to reassemble the packets into an audio file suitable for generating sound. If the packets get delayed due to Internet congestion or a slow connection, or if some packets do not arrive at all, the music may skip. In some cases, your computer may lack enough processing power to reassemble the incoming data packets, and this localized congestion may also lead to skips.
  
  

Buffering

• Many Web browsers attempt to compensate for Internet delays by preloading a buffer of audio packets before playing the embedded song. You may notice a slight delay before the music starts while the browser creates its buffer. Heavy Internet congestion or Internet connections without enough bandwidth to accommodate a smooth flow of data packets can cause the browser to play through the buffer before it can assemble more packets, though; in this case, you may hear the music skip while a “buffering” message appears on the Web page while the browser attempts to retrieve and assemble enough packets to create a new buffer.
  
  

Remedies

• The online music website Choice FM suggests that your Internet connection carries a considerable amount of blame if your music skips. If you use a dial-up connection or a low bandwidth broadband connection, you may not have enough bandwidth to handle a constant stream of audio packets -- you may need to upgrade to a higher bandwidth connection to listen to embedded songs. If you have an older computer or slower processor, you may need to upgrade your computer’s processor and RAM to listen to embedded media without skips.
  
  

Considerations

• The architecture of the Internet often requires data packets to pass through numerous connections, or hops, between the Web server and your computer. Though Internet service providers often maintain very high bandwidth connections between core Internet devices, a number of factors ranging from heavy use to denial of service attacks can cause even these connections to become congested. If you've upgraded your computer and you access the Internet through a high bandwidth broadband connection, you may have no way to resolve skipping in embedded music.