How to Add Video and Sound to Your Web Page

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Just as images and text can be included in an HTML web page, so can audio and video, though with a bit of a twist. At this point, it’s next to impossible to automatically display video or audio of any reasonable quality on your web page so anyone can see it. Rather, the reader will have to click on a link to download whatever video or audio clips you have available, and they will have to have a helper software application that can play the clip.

A helper is a program that works together with your browser. When the browser detects that a certain type of file is being downloaded, it checks an internal list of helper applications and loads the proper helper for the downloading file. It determines which helper to load via the extension at the end of the filename (.GIF for GIF89A, .JPG for JPEG, etc.). If the reader does not have the proper helper application on their system, they won’t be able to view the file they’re downloading.

Fortunately, there are a few programs that are, more or less, one-stop shops for audio and video clip viewing on PC-compatibles. For sound files, I recommend using Goldwave, a shareware program that can load a wide variety of the sound files you’ll encounter. It also has an array of features for modifying the sound files, if you’re interested in that. You can download Goldwave at http://web.cs.mun.ca/~chris3/goldwave.

For video files, you should try Nettoob, a full-featured shareware video display program. Nettoob can be downloaded from http://www.duplexx.com/.
If you are going to include any sound or video files on a web page, you should, as a convenience to your readers, include links on the same page to the above programs.

Here’s an example:
<P>Need program to display video? <A HREF="http://www.duplexx.com/">Download Nettoob now!</A></P>

You can also include the exact "address" of the program in the link, so the user can download it without having to leave your website. If you do this, though, you must be vigilant about making sure the link remains correct (if the makers of Nettoob, for instance, move the program to a new directory, your link won't work anymore, you'll have to update it).

File Formats
As with image files, sound and video files have their own formats. These formats are not cross-platform (able to be used on both Macintosh AND PC-compatibles), however. Audio files are most commonly saved as .WAV (Windows), .AU (Sun Audio), .AIFF (Macintosh), or .RA (RealAudio) files, while video files are most commonly saved as .AVI (Windows), .MOV (Macintosh Quicktime), or .MPG (MPEG compressed video) files. Each of these formats has its own strengths and weaknesses, but there are some basic rules to follow.
For instance, if you are using the two programs mentioned earlier, you will be able to enjoy any of these formats with no problem. However, many people will not be using those programs. Most Windows users, for example, will already be able to view .AVI video files, and will, naturally, prefer them to .MOV or .MPG files. The easy solution is to provide multiple formats for each file.

The problems with this solution are: a) audio and video files take up a lot of storage space, which could result in higher fees from your Internet Service Provider; and b) if you are using "stock" audio/video (from a CD-ROM of public domain files, for instance), you'll have to have the software and the knowledge to convert the files into the formats you'll need.

This is the current state of the World Wide Web and personal computers in general, so, unfortunately, the only solution right now is just to deal with it on a case by case basis. My best suggestion is, if you can't convert files, or don't wish to use up storage space with duplicate versions of the same file, just post what you have. Let the reader work it out on their end. It's not the most "user-friendly" solution, but if the reader wants to see or hear what you're posting, they'll make the effort to get the proper software.

WHERE TO FIND VIDEO AND SOUND FILES
The obvious solution is to create your own, but creating audio and video on a computer is not as easy as drawing an image in Windows Paintbrush. Creating audio and video files requires additional hardware and software that the average computer user may not have.

Creating sound isn't so bad, if you have a soundcard and a microphone; audio capturing software is usually included with your soundcard. You will need to use the audio capture software to record your voice through the microphone, then save it in an appropriate sound file format.

Many audio capture programs also let you record audio from a CD playing in the CD-ROM drive. Be careful about this! If you record, for example, a portion of a song by your favorite artist and post it on your website, you could be violating copyright statutes. Be sure the CD you're recording from is royalty-free (see below).

If you don't have audio capture software, you can try Sonic Foundry's Sound Forge program (around $200), or try the Goldwave shareware program mentioned earlier.

Creating a custom video file on a PC-compatible, however, requires a video capture card ($500 and up) and video processing software such as Adobe Premiere (another $300 or so). Luckily, companies are emerging that will take your taped video and convert it to a video file for a fee. You can find these companies by searching for "video conversion" on the various Internet search databases (such as Yahoo, http://www.yahoo.com).

If you don't need a custom sound or video file, you're in luck, as there are numerous sources for "stock" sound and video clips. First and foremost are CD-ROM collections. These commercial products contain clips that are "royalty-free" (do not require the payment of licensing fees) and can be used at your website. These can be found in most any software mailorder catalog or computer store.

Another option is to visit Internet sound and video "archives." These are collections of audio and video (clip art images are also frequently available) that people are free to copy and use. To find these, go to a Web search database such as Yahoo (http://www.yahoo.com) and search for the word "archive." You'll be presented with a list of all records with that word in it, and can scan through the lists for sound and video sites.

(Be sure, however, before you use any of these resources that they really are free to use. If you copy an audio file, for example, from ESPN's website, you're taking copyrighted material for unauthorized reuse, which can result in legal repercussions.)

ADDING AUDIO AND VIDEO LINKS
Once you've collected your audio/video files, adding links in your web pages is just like linking to a document or another website. In fact, you already saw how to do it earlier with regards to linking to the Goldwave and Nettoob files.

Suppose you have a video file called WINDSURF.AVI that you'd like people to be able to download. Your link could look like this:
<P><A HREF="windsurf.avi">Download windsurfing video (853k).</A></P>
Notice that I put the size of the file (853k) at the end of the link. You should always, always do this as a convenience for your readers, so they can gauge how long the download time would be. They may be using a 28.8bps modem (or even slower), and a file that size would take a long time to download.
That's basically all there is to it. When you add video or audio to your website, you're basically making files available for downloading. Unfortunately, at this time, there's no truly feasible way to show video as it's downloading, though it's in the works. With the new RealAudio sound format, you can play sound as it's downloading, but the reader must have the RealAudio player for this to work. If you want to use RealAudio at your website, you can get more information at http://www.realaudio.com.