In the early stages of web design, the first Internet browsers had support for text only, and even the text support was limited to a single font in a single color, and little or nothing else.

Then came web browsers with support for color, fonts and text styles, and the support for pictures was added. The support for sounds, animations and videos is handled in different ways by different browser

MULTIMEDIA FORMATS

Multimedia elements in web design (like sounds or videos) are stored in media files. The most common way to discover the media type is to look at the file extension. Picture formats are recognized by extension like .gif, .jpg as well as others.

Sound Formats: - Sound can be stored in many different formats

1. The MIDI Format: -- The MIDI (Musical Instrument Digital Interface) is a format for sending music information between electronic music devices like synthesizers and PC sound cards.

Sounds stored in the MIDI format have the extension .mid, .midi

2. The AIFF Format: - The AIFF (Audio Interchange File Format) was developed by Apple. Sounds stored in the AIFF format have the extension .aif or .aiff extension

3. The MP3 Format (MPEG):- MP3 files are actually MPEG file. But the MPEG Format was originally developed for video by the Moving Pictures Expert Group. We can say that MP3 files are the sound part of the MPEG video format. MP3 is one of the most popular sound formats for music recording. The MP3 Encoding system combines good compression (small files) with high quality. Sound stored in the MP3 format has the extension. MP3

VIDEO FORMAT:-

1. The AVI (Audio video Interleave) format was developed by Microsoft. The AVI format is supported by all computers running windows, and by all the most popular web browsers. It is a very common format on Internet, but not always possible to play on non-windows computers.

Sound stored in the AVI format has the extension. .avi

2. THE MPEG Format: - (Moving Picture Expert Group) format is most popular format on the internet its cross-platform, and supported by the entire most popular web browser. Video stores in the MPEG format have the extension .mpg or .mpeg

3. The Quick Time Format: - The Quick time format was developed by Apple. Quick time is as common format on the Internet, but Quick Time movies cannot be played on a Windows computer without an extra (free) component installed.

Video stored in the Quick Time format have the extension .mov

Using multimedia elements on your website can enhance how your site/business is perceived online. It is however very important not to overdo the number of multimedia elements on your website. If you are unsure how to integrate music, sound or video to your website, why not use a professional web designer who can guide you through the process?