A music company has a website that allows users to stream music. The music is stored in sound files.

Mark scheme

Marking points from the official mark scheme (May/June 2021). The mark or mark type is shown in brackets.

1. [4] (a)(i) Four from: (Compression) algorithm is used No data will be removed // original file can be restored Example of type of algorithm that would be used e.g. RLE Repeated patterns in the music are identified and indexed NOTE: If another lossless method is described, marks can be awarded.
2. [1] (a)(ii) Any one from: To provide the highest quality of music file (that compression will allow) The user is able to listen to the original sound file No loss of quality for the sound file provided
3. [1] (a)(iii) Any one from: Allow for quicker streaming speed Would not require as much bandwidth (to stream) Does not need as much RAM Smoother listening experience // less lag Will not use as much of data allowance
4. [2] (a)(iv) Two from: Streaming speed may be slower and may affect listening experience // buffering may occur User may need more bandwidth to stream that could be more expensive It would be a larger file size so may take longer to upload so will take up more storage space on webserver
5. [4] (b) Any four from: Browser sends URL to DNS using HTTP/HTTPS IP address is found on DNS DNS returns IP address to the browser Browser sends request to web server/IP address Web server sends web pages back to browser Browser interprets/renders the HTML (to display web pages) Security certificates exchanged
6. [2] (c) Two from: Web server has been flooded with traffic // web server has been sent many requests at once so, server is brought to a halt / crashes