HTML Multimedia

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

Multimedia comes in many formats. It can be almost anything you can hear or see, such as images, music, sound, videos, records, films, and animations. Web pages often hold multimedia elements of different types and formats.

The first web browsers supported text only, in a single font and color. Later browsers added support for colors, fonts, images, and multimedia.

Multimedia elements like audio or video are stored in media files. The easiest way to find a file's type is to look at its file extension. Common multimedia extensions include .wav, .mp3, .mp4, .mpg, .wmv, and .avi.

There are many video formats, but HTML supports only MP4, WebM, and Ogg; YouTube recommends MP4. Other formats and where they work: MPEG (.mpg, .mpeg) was the first popular web video format but is no longer supported in HTML; AVI (.avi, Microsoft) and WMV (.wmv, Microsoft) play well on Windows but not in browsers; QuickTime (.mov, Apple) plays on Apple machines but not in browsers; RealVideo (.rm, .ram) does not play in browsers; Flash (.swf, .flv) usually needs a plug-in; Ogg (.ogg) and WebM (.webm) are supported by HTML; and MP4 (.mp4) is supported by all browsers and recommended by YouTube.

HTML supports only MP3, WAV, and Ogg audio. MP3 is the best format for compressed recorded music, so it is the choice for a music site. Other formats: MIDI (.mid, .midi) holds digital notes rather than sound and does not play in browsers; RealAudio (.rm, .ram) does not play in browsers; WMA (.wma, Microsoft) and AAC (.aac, Apple) play on their own platforms but not in browsers; WAV (.wav) and Ogg (.ogg) are supported by HTML; MP3 (.mp3) is supported by all browsers; and MP4 (.mp4), though a video format, can also carry audio and is supported by all browsers.