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Windows Media

Windows Media files are video and sound files that may be on their own or embedded in a PowerPoint Presentation.  Windows Media files will likely be larger than sound only formats since they contain video. 

The person creating the video has many options about how large these files are.  This is mostly influenced by the dimensions (height and width) of the video created, the frames per second, audio quality, and other attributes.  Some video files can be moderate to large in file size and may take some time to load.  The file used in this example is about 192 kb.   For a smaller file to test, try this file (75kb)

Windows Media Player will be necessary to view these files. 

You can try the object below, which should contain a player interface.

// (The above three lines should be joined as one line. // They have been split for formatting purposes.)

You can also have links directly to a movie which should launch the Windows Media Player in a separate window. 

Optional Items to Test With

Try this link, which is another way to get to the video shown above.  Make sure you read any messages or alerts that you get.

There may be a pop-up requesting whether you wish to open the material in the player or inside of Internet Explorer.  You will almost ALWAYS want to chose the non-Internet Explorer media player option as the video will load in a tiny panel on the side of your screen making it difficult to view.  If Internet Explorer does have that panel on the left side of your screen, do the following:

Turning off the media bar in Internet Explorer for Windows

To turn off the media bar so Windows Media Player will open up separately from Internet Explorer, do the following:

  1. When the media bar is open, click on the media options button located on the bottom left side of the bar.

  2. You'll see an option called Settings. Under Settings, unselect Play media in the bar and unselect Ask for preferred types.

  3. Click on the X on the top of the media player to close it from the browser window.

Now when you go to play a file, it should play directly in Windows Media Player and not within the browser itself.

 

Yearning for more?

Check out this example from the Windows Media Website
If the link above does not work, try this one or check out the Windows Media Site.

If you're interested in creating your own videos, you may also be interested in how to create captions for the videos.  Check out this link to the National Center for Accessible Media for hints.

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