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HTML Multimedia

Multimedia on the web is defined as sound, music, videos, movies, and animations.

What is Multimedia?

Multimedia is available in different formats. It can be referred to as anything related to hearing or seeing, like images, music, sound, videos, records, films, animations, and more.

Web pages contain multimedia elements of different types in various formats.

rowser Support

Old web browsers supported text only, limited to a single font in a single color.

Later came browsers that supported colors, fonts, images, and multimedia.

Multimedia Formats

Multimedia elements like audio or video are stored in the form of media files.
To know the type of file, you can look is at the file extension.
Multimedia files have formats with different extensions like: .wav, .mp3, .mp4, .mpg, .wmv, and .avi.

Common Video Formats

There are many video formats available.
The MP4, WebM, and Ogg formats are supported by HTML.
YouTube recommends the MP4 format.

Format	File	Description
MPEG	.mpg .mpeg	MPEG. Was developed by the Moving Pictures Expert Group. It was the first popular video format on the web. It is no longer supported anymore in HTML.
AVI	.avi	AVI (Audio Video Interleave). Developed by Microsoft. It is used in video cameras and TV hardware.
WMV	.wmv	WMV (Windows Media Video). Developed by Microsoft. Works well on Windows computers, but not in web browsers.
QuickTime	.mov	QuickTime. Developed by Apple. Works well on Apple computers, but not in web browsers.
RealVideo	.rm .ram	RealVideo. Developed by Real Media. Allows video streaming with low bandwidths. Does not works in web browsers.
Flash	.swf .flv	Flash. Developed by Macromedia. Requires plug-in to play in web browsers.
Ogg	.ogg	Theora Ogg. Developed by the Xiph.Org Foundation. It is supported by HTML.
WebM	.webm	WebM. Developed by Mozilla, Opera, Adobe, and Google.
MPEG-4 or MP4	.mp4	MP4. Developed by the Moving Pictures Expert Group. Recommended by YouTube.

Common Audio Formats

MP3 is the top format for compressed recorded music.

Format	File	Description
MIDI	.mid .midi	MIDI stands for Musical Instrument Digital Interface. It is the main format for all electronic music devices.
RealAudio	.rm .ram	RealAudio. Developed by Real Media. Allows the streaming of audio with low bandwidths. It is not played in web browsers.
WMA	.wma	WMA (Windows Media Audio). Developed by Microsoft. It plays well on Windows computers, but not in web browsers.
AAC	.aac	AAC (Advanced Audio Coding). Developed by Apple. It is the default format for iTunes. Plays well on Apple computers, but not in web browsers.
WAV	.wav	WAV. Developed by IBM and Microsoft. It works well on Windows, Macintosh, and Linux operating systems.
Ogg	.ogg	Ogg. Developed by the Xiph.Org Foundation and is supported by HTML.
MP3	.mp3	MP3 files are actually the sound part of MPEG files. MP3 is the most popular format for music players.
MP4	.mp4	MP4 is a video format, but can also be used for audio. It is supported by all browsers.