The invention relates to a method for downloading stored streaming media data based on an elastomeric overlay network: 1) a data request node sends a request for downloading target data to a P2P network; 2) the request node inquires all target nodes in the elastomeric overlay network according to the address of the target nodes, and after being matched, the elastomeric overlay network returns the application layer routing table entry of all the target nodes to the request node; 3) the request node selects n target node(s) from all the target nodes according to the application layer routing table entry and the nearly reached maximum time delay; 4) the n target node(s) selected from step 3) is/are taken as P2P peer end(s), and all the file blocks of the target data are downloaded according to the route in the routing table entry returned by the elastomeric overlay network. The method of the invention reduces the probing workload at P2P level in the streaming media service, and improves the quality of the subjective perception of the user; furthermore, the invention provides a fuzzy matching method which can route the data to the nodes which are not on the elastomeric overlay network, thus enhancing the robustness of the network and broadening the application range of the elastomeric overlay network.