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SMIL

SMIL stands for Synchronized Multimedia Integration Language and is a Web Consortium standard for describing multimedia presentations. A SMIL presentation is similar to a QuickTime movie in that it can display images, text, audio, and video and can position visual elements on the screen at specified locations. Media elements can also be sequenced and synchronized in time. SMIL presentations are defined by SMIL documents, which are text files that specify what media elements to present, and where and when to present them. Media elements in a SMIL document are specified by URLs. Media elements can be files—such as text files, JPEG images, and QuickTime movies—or live streams. The URLs that specify the media elements can use any of the common protocols: HTTP, FTP, RTSP, file access, and so on. You can import SMIL documents into QuickTime and play them using the QuickTime browser plug-in or QuickTime Player, provided that their individual media elements are all things that QuickTime can play. When you import a SMIL presentation into QuickTime, the SMIL media elements become QuickTime movie tracks, and the SMIL document describes how the tracks are arranged and overlaid in time and space.

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