A method, a server, and a user terminal for providing and acquiring media content are provided. The providing method includes: receiving a file segment acquiring request sent by a user terminal, where the file segment acquiring request is generated and sent by the user terminal according to an identifier of the user terminal, and the media segment description file includes a storage address and an embedded identifier of each media file segment that is divided from media content; and providing the user terminal with a media file segment that is embedded with the identifier of the user terminal. In the technical solution of the present invention, a server no longer processes media content in real time and responds to an acquiring request of a user terminal, thereby reducing concurrent load of the server and reducing concurrent bandwidth occupied by media content distribution.