3.3. Streaming from network or pipes
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## 3.3. Streaming from network or pipes

MPlayer can play files from network, using the HTTP, FTP, MMS or RTSP/RTP protocol.

Playing goes by simply using adding the URL to the command line. MPlayer also honors the `http_proxy` environment variable, and uses proxy if available. Proxy usage can also be forced:

    mplayer http_proxy://proxy.micorsops.com:3128/http://micorsops.com:80/stream.asf

MPlayer can read from stdin (not named pipes). This can be for example used to play from FTP:

    wget ftp://micorsops.com/something.avi -O - | mplayer -

### Note

Note: it's also recommended to enable `-cache` when playback from network:

    wget ftp://micorsops.com/something.avi -O - | mplayer -cache 8192 -

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