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Multimedia comes in many different formats. It can be any content you hear or see, such as text, images, music, sound effects, recordings, movies, animations, and so on
Multimedia on the Web refers to sound effects, music, video, and animation.
Modern web browsers support many multimedia formats.
Multimedia comes in many different formats. It can be any content you hear or see, such as text, images, music, sound effects, recordings, movies, animations, and so on.
On the Internet, you will often find multimedia elements embedded in web pages, as modern browsers support a variety of multimedia formats.
In this tutorial, you will learn about different multimedia formats and how to use them on your web pages.
The first Internet browser only supported text, and even the support for text was limited to a single font and color. Subsequently, browsers that supported colors, fonts, and text styles were born, and image support was also added.
Different browsers handle support for sound effects, animations, and videos in different ways. Some elements can be handled inline, while others require additional plugins.
You will learn more about plugins in the following chapters.
Formats Multimedia elements (such as video and audio) are stored in media files.
The most common method to determine the media type is to check the file extension. When a browser receives the file extension .htm or .html, it assumes the file is an HTML page. The .xml extension indicates an XML file, while the .css extension indicates a stylesheet. Image formats are identified by .gif or .jpg.
Multimedia elements also have file formats with different extensions, such as .swf, .wmv, .mp3 as well as .mp4.
MP4It is a new video format launched on the Internet.
YouTube recommends using MP4 .
Flash Players support MP4
HTML5 Supports MP4.
| Format | File | Description |
| AVI | .avi | The AVI (Audio Video Interleave) format was developed by Microsoft. All computers running Windows support the AVI format. It is a common format on the Internet, but non-Windows computers do not always play it. |
| WMV | .wmv | The Windows Media format was developed by Microsoft. Windows Media is common on the Internet, but Windows Media movies cannot be played without installing additional (free) components. Some later Windows Media movies cannot be played on all non-Windows computers due to the lack of appropriate players. |
| MPEG |
| The MPEG (Moving Pictures Expert Group) format is the most popular format on the Internet. It is cross-platform and supported by all popular browsers. |
| QuickTime | .mov | The QuickTime format was developed by Apple Inc. QuickTime is a common format on the Internet, but QuickTime movies cannot be played on Windows computers without installing additional (free) components. |
| RealVideo |
| The RealVideo format was developed by Real Media for the Internet. This format allows video streaming under low bandwidth conditions (online video, internet TV). Since it prioritizes low bandwidth, the quality is often reduced. |
| Flash |
| The Flash (Shockwave) format was developed by Macromedia. The Shockwave format requires additional components to play. However, these components are pre-installed in browsers such as Firefox or IE. |
| Mpeg-4 | .mp4 | Mpeg-4 (with H.264 (video compression) is a new format for the Internet. In fact, YouTube recommends using MP4. YouTube accepts multiple formats and then converts them all to .flv or .mp4 for distribution. More and more video publishers are turning to MP4, as Flash players and HTML5 of the Internet shared format. |
MP3is an audio compression technology, with the full name being Motion Picture Experts Group Audio Compression Standard.3（Moving Picture Experts Group Audio Layer III），shortened as MP3. It is designed to greatly reduce the amount of audio data. If your site is a music type, you can choose mp3Format.
| Format | File | Description |
| MIDI |
| MIDI (Musical Instrument Digital Interface) is a format for electronic music devices (such as synthesizers and sound cards). MIDI files do not contain sound, but contain digital music instructions that can be played by electronic products (such as sound cards). because the MIDI format only contains instructions, MIDI files are extremely small. The example above only 23k in size, but can play nearly 5 minutes. MIDI has been widely supported by a large number of software on various platforms. Most popular web browsers support MIDI. |
| RealAudio |
| RealAudio format was developed by Real Media for the Internet. This format also supports video. It allows audio streaming under low bandwidth conditions (online music, network music). Due to its priority on low bandwidth, the quality is often reduced. |
| Wave | .wav | Wave (waveform) format was developed by IBM and Microsoft. All computers running Windows and all web browsers (except Google Chrome) support it. |
| WMA | .wma | WMA format (Windows Media Audio), with quality superior to MP3, compatible with most players except iPod. WMA files can be transmitted as a continuous data stream, making it very practical for internet radio or online music. |
| MP3 |
| MP3 The file is actually the audio part of the MPEG file. The MPEG format was originally developed by the Moving Picture Experts Group.3 It is one of the most popular audio formats for music. It is expected that future software systems will support it. |
HTML5 Latest standard support MP3, WAV, and Ogg audio formats.