MOV is the file format for movies defined as an Apple file extention. Movie - QuickTime can be viewed using Apple's QuickTime Player. QuickTime is built into the Macintosh operating systems. Windows users must add a QuickTime video driver to view QuickTime movies.

AVI - Audio Video Interleave is the format used by Microsoft Video for Windows. AVI files are limited to 320 x 240 resolution, and 30 frames per second, neither of which is adequate for full-screen, full-motion video. However, Video for Windows does not require any special hardware, making it the lowest common denominator for multimedia applications. Many multimedia producers use this format because it allows them to sell their products to the largest base of users.

BinHex can convert binary data into ASCII data (extension .HQX) - allowing it to be sent through email. An encoding scheme that converts binary data into ASCII characters. Any file, whether it be a graphics file, a text file, or a binary executable file, can be converted to BinHex. This format is particularly valuable for transferring files from one platform to another because nearly all computers can handle ASCII files. In fact, many e-mail programs include a BinHex encoder and decoder for sending and receiving attachments. BinHex is an especially common format for Macintosh files. Encoded files usually have a .HQX extension.

MPEG Moving Picture Experts Group, m-peg, a working group of ISO. The term also refers to the family of digital video compression standards and file formats developed by the group. MPEG generally produces better-quality video than competing formats, such as Video for Windows, Indeo and QuickTime. MPEG files can be decoded by special hardware or by software.

MPEG uses a type of lossy compression, since some data is removed. But the diminishment of data is generally imperceptible to the human eye.

There are two major MPEG standards: MPEG-1 and MPEG-2. The most common implementations of the MPEG-1 standard provide a video resolution of 352-by-240 at 30 frames per second (fps). This produces video quality slightly below the quality of conventional VCR videos.

A newer standard, MPEG-2, offers resolutions of 720x480 and 1280x720 at 60 fps, with full CD-quality audio. This is sufficient for all the major TV standards, including NTSC, and even HDTV. MPEG-2 is used by DVD-ROMs. MPEG-2 can compress a 2 hour video into a few gigabytes.

While decompressing an MPEG-2 data stream requires only modest computing power, encoding video in MPEG-2 format requires significantly more processing power.

The ISO standards body is currently working on a new version of MPEG called MPEG-4 (there is no MPEG-3). MPEG-4 will be based on the QuickTime file format.

Streaming media allows a browser to begin displaying the data as it is sent to it.

A technique for transferring data such that it can be processed as a steady and continuous stream. Streaming technologies are becoming increasingly important with the growth of the Internet because most users do not have fast enough access to download large multimedia files quickly. With streaming, the client browser or plug-in can start displaying the data before the entire file has been transmitted.

For streaming to work, the client side receiving the data must be able to collect the data and send it as a steady stream to the application that is processing the data and converting it to sound or pictures. This means that if the streaming client receives the data more quickly than required, it needs to save the excess data in a buffer. If the data doesn't come quickly enough, however, the presentation of the data will not be smooth.

With Non-streaming media, all the data must be received before processing begins.

Real Player plays RealAudio and RealVideo streaming media files on the Windows and Mac operating systems

Flash is Macromedia's popular authoring software that creates vector graphics-based animation programs. Flash-created files end the with extension .swf. Flash lets designers add animation, special effects, sound, and interactivity to imported artwork. Flash files are very small files that store graphic information in the vector format, rather than bitmapped format. The files transmit so quickly that they can be converted into an animated bitmap displayed on the client machine as soon as they arrive. Because Flash is a special file format, users must install a Flash player on their machine.

Macromedia Shockwave Player is also a free Web player from Macromedia that displays multimedia files created in Macromedia Director. Director files are often games, presentations, ads, entertainment, and other interactive shows.