When multimedia appeared on the Web pages, the digital formats that were used were the existing ones - the same MOVs, AVIs, MPEGs, WAVs, AUs and others that were created with non-Internet purpose on mind.

Texts like
download 2.5 Mb .MOV file to experience 35 seconds of video
were, and still are often.

Concerning the available bandwidth, the crtical situation is with so called streaming multimedia, the things Web audience is supposed to see or hear as they come to their computers. Today, the overwhelming majority of Internet users use modem to connect to the Net.