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A Guide to Online Media

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The History of Audio and Video on the Web

Audio and video files can become very large depending on the length and quality of the file. For that reason, it was once very difficult to play or transfer audio and video files using the web. Connection speeds were simply too slow for such large files. However, several new developments were initiated to allow for better use of audio and video on the web. These were:

• File formats that allow a media file to be cut up for transfer and re-assembled at the other end.
• Better compression that allows for longer files to be delivered with high quality.
• Progressively streamed file formats that allow for files to be played at the same time they are being downloaded.
• Streaming files that play as download occurs but do not save to the computer.

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