It is found that more and more multimedia contents are being added to the website design in order to make it attractive. The idea is nothing less than path breaking because multimedia design can grab the attention of the users in the best way. Also this makes the website very lively. Videos are the best way to communicate the message to the visitors of the website.

But the most important issue related to using multimedia files is the downloading time of these files. If the video file takes huge amount of time in order to get downloaded then there are high possibilities that the visitor of the website is not going top view them.

This article is to educate on how to use videos effectively.

Basically there are two different ways through which video files are added onto the website:

1. As downloadable file:

If the videos are made available onto the website as downloadable file then the user needs to first download the entire video onto their system in order to play it. The obvious advantage is that one doesn't require to depend on the internet speed in order to play the video. Most of the video files on the websites are made to play "Live" as a result they are compressed to the extent that they could be easily downloadable. So the quality of the videos gets hampered in this process. But if the video files are made directly downloadable from the website, then the files doesn't require to be compressed and hence the quality of the video remains the same.

But it always advisable to use small video clips so that it gets loaded easily.

2. As streaming video:

This is where the viewer is able to download sections of your video (otherwise known as “streaming�), while the video is playing. The main benefit of this method is that the user does not have to spend time downloading the complete video before viewing.

There are three major streaming video formats – RealVideo (RM), QuickTime (MOV) and Windows Media (WMV). These are playable on Real Player, QuickTime Player and Windows Media Player respectively. Windows Media Player is widely available on most PC’s as it is part of Windows Operating System. The other players need to be installed.

But the biggest disadvantage of using streaming videos is that it reduces the quality of the video. Apart from that, it also keeps stopping in the middle which irritates the user.

So it is important that one website owner must know which to choose for the website design.