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<media> Media Object

Description of and pointer to an external file that holds a media object (for example, an animation, a movie).

Usage/Remarks

The “content” of the <media> element is not the media object itself, but information concerning the object and a pointer to the external objects. The external file that contains the object is named by the @xlink:href attribute.

Media versus Figure

Best Practice: Unlabeled media objects should be tagged as <media>s, not as <fig>s. A common test to determine if an object is a <fig> versus a <media> is to ask, “If there were a “List of Figures” for this article, should this object appear in that list?”

Put Display Components at Highest Level Possible

Display component elements, such as <caption>, should always be used at the highest possible level; in other words, if a <media> element is inside a <fig> element, the <caption>, <long-desc>, etc., should be part of the <fig>, not part of the <media> element. Use a <caption> element on a <media> only when the media object is not enclosed in any other structure or when a figure contains multiple media objects, each of which must have its own <caption>. For similar reasons, the @position attribute should be set to “anchor” for a <media> element that is inside a larger display container such as a <fig>.

Graphic versus Media

Although this Tag Set cannot enforce it, the element <graphic> should be limited to still images. The element <media> should be reserved for objects that involve video, audio, moving images, time-dependent graphical types, and other non-XML data types. Such external objects should take a @mimetype, when possible.
Position
The @position attribute may be used to indicate whether this element must be anchored at its exact location within the text or whether it may float, but best practice is to anchor graphics and media objects. The few media objects that float loose in text should be anchored there, and all the media objects inside figures, tables, etc., should be anchored as well, although the outer structure (figure, boxed text) may be allowed to float.
Related Elements
Basic Non-text Elements — This Suite contains several elements that can describe and point to non-textual content: <graphic>, <inline-graphic>, <media>, and <inline-media>. These elements appear in the flow of the document, and the material they describe and point to is assumed to be integral to the document, unless flagged with the @supplemental attribute. “Integral” means that the object is logically necessary to the content of the document, although stored as an external file.
The elements <graphic> and <inline-graphic> contain a pointer to a still image (such as a photograph, diagram, line drawing, etc.). The elements <media> and <inline-media> contain a pointer to a non-textual object (typically a binary such as an audio clip, dataset, or animation that cannot be displayed in print)
Supplementary Material — In contrast to the four non-textual elements just described, <supplementary-material> and <inline-supplementary-material> always describe and point to objects that are considered to be “supplementary” (non-integral) to the content of the article.
Attributes
content-type
hreflang
mime-subtype
mimetype
orientation (default = portrait)
position (default = float)
specific-use
supplemental

Multi-lang Attributes

lang-focus
lang-focus-custom
lang-group
lang-source
lang-source-custom
lang-translate
lang-variant
lang-variant-custom

Base Attributes

id
xml:base
xml:lang

Linking Attributes

xlink:actuate
xlink:href (REQUIRED)
xlink:role
xlink:show
xlink:title
xlink:type

Namespaces

xmlns:xlink
Models and Context
May be contained in
<alternatives>, <answer>, <app>, <array>, <bio>, <body>, <boxed-text>, <chem-struct>, <chem-struct-wrap>, <disp-formula>, <explanation>, <fig>, <license-p>, <named-content>, <option>, <p>, <question>, <question-preamble>, <sec>, <see>, <see-also>, <styled-content>, <table-wrap>, <td>, <th>
Description
The following, in order:
Content Model
<!ELEMENT  media        %media-model;                                >
Expanded Content Model
((object-id)?, (alt-text | long-desc)*, (legend)*, (xref)*,
(custom-meta-group)*, attrib?, (permissions)*)
Tagged Sample

Video object, content is DOI

...
<media id="v1" mimetype="video/x-msvideo" 
  orientation="portrait" position="anchor" 
  specific-use="original-format" 
  xlink:href="v1-video1-orig.avi">
 <object-id pub-id-type="doi" specific-use="metadata">10.1063/1.4807071.1</object-id>
</media>
...
Related Resources