Vivo Software was a pioneer internet streaming media company which was acquired by RealNetworks in March 1998. Vivo Software designed the Vivo Video/Audio platform, including its encoding tools and end-user VivoActive Player. The Vivo format, obsolete today, was one of the first to be designed and used for internet streaming. The Vivo platform was a well-known player when streaming media was in its infancy and was deployed mainly on erotic sites during the mid 1990s. Since then RealPlayer, QuickTime and Windows Media have evolved as the dominant platforms. The development of Vivo ceased in 1997 to be replaced by RealPlayer from RealNetworks. The Vivo format is based upon H.263 codec. It uses inter-frame coding, but does not insert any key frames, except at the beginning of the clip, which effectively disables the possibility of seeking to specific locations in the stream. One of the last released versions of VivoActive Player added a workaround for this handicap by quickly decoding all frames from the first one to the requested position. Among the currently developed and available video players, MPlayer is still able to play and convert Vivo video clips.
