ActiveMovie was a streaming media technology for Windows® that allowed users to access streaming video directly from Internet Explorer®. It was replaced by DirectShow® and included in the Microsoft® DirectX® collection of programs. The primary format used was ASF, which held information for retrieving audio and video information.
ActiveMovie is a type of streaming media technology for the Windows® operating system. It was the successor to Video for Windows®, which was used in the Windows® 3.1 and Windows® 95 operating systems. It was renamed and replaced by a similar technology, DirectShow®, which began to be used in all versions of Windows® starting in 1997.
Streaming video is a concept that sees video information transmitted to a user’s computer using an Internet connection. Instead of downloading an entire video file to a computer hard drive, users can view the entire video as fast as their Internet connection can deliver through a web browser or similar program. Video streaming is a major component of video hosting sites like YouTube or Metacafe®.
ActiveMovie specifically allowed computers to access streaming video directly from the Internet Explorer® web browser. With ActiveMovie installed, users could view streaming video embedded in the HTML of sites using this technology. ActiveMovie also allowed Windows® Media Player® to access the same types of video from that particular program’s interface.
Installing ActiveMovie saw a program called ActiveMovie Control installed on the same hard drive. This program served as a rudimentary media player that allowed users to play audio and video files on a Windows®-based computer. Although developed by Microsoft®, ActiveMovie Control lacked some of the more advanced features of the company’s Windows® Media Player®.
The ActiveMovie streaming file (ASF) video file format is the primary format used by ActiveMovie technology. An ASF file was simply a container file that held information that a browser then used to retrieve the audio and video information associated with a particular streaming media source. It did not contain the audio and video information itself. This is not to be confused with a second file type that uses the ASF extension, called an Enhanced System Format File, which contains audio and video information.
Originally available both as an individual download and as part of Internet Explorer® 3.0, ActiveMovie was eventually included in the Microsoft® DirectX® collection of programs. DirectX® includes several other technologies that all control how the Windows® operating system displays content such as digital video, digital audio, and computer games. Due to ActiveMovie’s integration with Internet Explorer®, it could only be uninstalled via a command prompt or by uninstalling the web browser from a computer.
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